Ron DeSantis, Florida governor and top-tier presidential candidate, addressed approximately 1,850 attendees as the keynote speaker for the Tennessee Republican Party’s 46th annual Statesmen’s Dinner on Saturday at the Music City Center in Nashville.
👏 Standing ovation for @RonDeSantis in Tennessee last night! pic.twitter.com/XWHhGusFPN
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) July 16, 2023
During his speech, DeSantis touted his record as Governor of Florida working to fight “woke ideology” and “draining the swamp” in the state and pitched himself as the GOP presidential candidate who can deliver similar results for Americans on a national level.
Another fantastic Statesmen's Dinner in the books. Over 1,850 ardent conservatives gathered to celebrate the values that knit our state together and help make TN one of the strongest states in the union. Grateful to Chairman Scott Golden and the entire @TNGOP team for your hard… pic.twitter.com/JhjIRv0BQ3
— William Lamberth (@WilliamLamberth) July 16, 2023
Notable absences from Saturday’s event were Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN). Both Blackburn and Hagerty have endorsed former president Donald Trump in the presidential primary and are a part of his 2024 Tennessee Federal Leadership Team.
Former TN-02 U.S. Representative Jimmy Duncan and current U.S. Representatives Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03), Mark Green (R-TN-07), John Rose (R-TN-06), and Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) are also a part of Trump’s 2024 Tennessee Federal Leadership Team.
During Saturday’s event, according to reports, Congresswoman Harshbarger addressed the crowd before DeSantis and reaffirmed her support for Trump, saying, “We need somebody who’s going to put America First. I know somebody who’s done it once and who will do it again – that’s President Donald Trump.”
Meanwhile, according to recent polling among Tennessee voters, DeSantis trails Trump in the GOP primary by a wide margin.
Earlier this month, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star, the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee published results of its first-ever poll, revealing that Donald Trump has a whopping 49-point lead (61 percent-12 percent) over Ron DeSantis in the Volunteer State in the GOP presidential primary.
In addition, FiveThirtyEight’s national polling tracker, as of Friday, July 14, shows Trump in the lead with 49.7 percent compared to DeSantis’ 21 percent in the GOP primary,
The 2024 Tennessee Republican presidential primary will be held on the same day as primaries in 14 other states on March 5, 2024, known as “Super Tuesday.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “46th Tennessee Annual GOP Statesmen’s Dinner” by State Rep. William Lamberth and “Gov. Ron DeSantis” is by Ron DeSantis.
I was at the dinner. Volunteered for it to be exact. It was a great night. DeSantis brought alot of enthusiasm for it. I still think Trump is the nominee in the end and I am voting for Trump. It’s just a no brainer for me that he went in, did the best he could granted a couple of mistakes here and there, but not too damaging of mistakes, and then Biden challenged him, “won” and is either intentionally doing the worst he can or doesn’t know what office he’s in and his handlers are intentionally doing the worst they can do. So Trump is going back and going to compare and contrast his administration vs Biden’s administration and if he can do it like his 2016 messaging, he’ll have a good shot at winning. DeSantis committed political suicide by deciding to throw his hat into the ring. The majority of these other candidates are either running for cabinet positions or just to expose themselves as RINOS. Trump is going to learn from his mistakes and is going to drain the entire swamp down now that everyone is exposed for who they are.
Have been attending these Dinners for many years. It was by far the best ever. Gov. DeSantis gave a great speech and showed how he has build the conservative movement in the Republican Party, not tear it apart. Or worse yet cost us seat after seat by backing horrible candidates in the primaries who end up getting slaughtered in the general election.
There was genuine enthusiasm in that room Saturday night. Thank you Chairman Golden and the great staff at the Tennessee GOP office for a wonderful evening. It is sad that our U.S. Senators could not have been there to enjoy it.
I will even vote for a “yellow dog” if he/she is the Republican nominee now that the Democratic Party has become such a far left operation. BTW Dr. Ken, has the former President and current narcisist pledged to support the Republican nominee should my fellow Republicans be smart enough to nominate anyone other than Trump?
Thanks to the state party for giving Gov. DeSantis the opportunity to present the reason why he should be the Republican nominee for President. I am supporting DeSantis as the best choice by far for conservatives who are really interested in maximizing our chances of winning the general election in November 2024.
Politicians know that votes win elections and every attempt to sway voters benefits them in their chance for reelection. The public will decide who governs. Unfortunately they often pick politicians. Self governance is hard, electing men and women who are not in it for themselves is even harder.
It is too early to make what essentially are meaningless endorsements. Let the process unfold as it will. Then, regardless if it is Trump, DeSantis or someone else, we need to rally behind and support that nominee. We need to end the embarrassing disaster in the team of Biden and Harris. I truly feel Biden will drop out referencing some health problem. Truth behind this is the democrat party will push him to the sidelines. It seems the democrat side will either be Newsome of RFK Jr. Harris will have to take her word salad commentary on the road. I suspect some far left wing campus like UC Berkley will find a home for her.