Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) made a campaign stop in Nevada and called for America to return to “sanity.”
DeSantis attended the annual Basque Fry event in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Saturday. The event is hosted by Adam Laxalt, DeSantis’ former roommate and chair of the pro-DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down.
“We need to restore sanity in this country. We need to restore a sense of normalcy to our communities. We need to make sure our institutions have integrity,” said DeSantis in Nevada.
In his remarks, DeSantis took aim at the Democrats by calling their policies a “dumpster fire of woke ideology.”
DeSantis announced his bid for the 2024 presidential race in May. He is currently the only Republican candidate posing as a threat to former president Donald Trump in the election, although Trump still has a significant lead.
DeSantis did not mention the 37-count indictment that was brought against Trump earlier in the month. The former president is being charged with mishandling classified documents and obstructing the Department of Justice’s investigation into his actions. Instead, DeSantis pushed the GOP narrative that Trump is the victim of a witch hunt against Republicans.
“We are going to end the weaponization of this government once and for all,” said DeSantis.
Nevada Republican voters have shown support for Trump since the 2016 election. Many are criticizing DeSantis for trying to encroach on Trump’s territory, as the Nevada primary will most likely be advantageous to Trump.
DeSantis appealed to conservative voters with his Covid-19 policies, as he is known in Florida for keeping businesses and schools open and refusing to mandate masks during the pandemic.
“We held the line during Covid-19, when freedom itself hung in the balance,” said DeSantis on Saturday. “We refused to let our state descend into some type of Faucian dystopia where people’s livelihoods were destroyed… we protected people’s rights.”
