DeSantis steps up dire warning to GOP about distraction from Biden, amid Trump’s latest indictment

By THOMAS BEAUMONT
Associated Press

VINTON, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is increasingly pressing Republican voters to avoid the temptation to refight the 2020 election next year, even as former President Donald Trump remains the dominant favorite for the 2024 GOP nomination on a message of persecution. Though DeSantis recently cast doubt on the false theories about the 2020 election at the heart of Trump’s federal indictment, DeSantis is telling early-voting GOP activists anything except focus on defeating Democratic President Joe Biden would be dire. DeSantis told reporters Saturday after a campaign stop in northern Iowa: “If the election is a referendum on other things that are not forward-looking, then I’m afraid Republicans will lose.”