DeSantis labeled ‘Dead Man Walking’ in N.H. GOP Race by Strategist

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted Monday before the results of the Iowa caucuses were in that his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination was in it for the long haul.

But DeSantis finished a distant second to former President Donald Trump with just over 21% of the vote in a state in which he campaigned heavily. Trump won with 51% of the vote for a record margin of victory. Next is the first primary on the GOP schedule, New Hampshire on Jan. 23, a state where the FiveThirtyEight average of polling shows DeSantis (5.4%) a distant third behind Trump (43.5%) and Nikki Haley (30.6%).

Some are now wondering whether DeSantis’ campaign has a path to victory, especially given how dominant Trump’s victory in Iowa was.

New Hampshire-based strategist Mike Dennehy told The Hill on Tuesday there was “nothing positive” for DeSantis heading out of the Hawkeye State and suggested he was a “dead man walking right now.”

“He cannot make an argument that he’s in a stronger position because he lost to Donald Trump by 30 points,” Dennehy said. “He can say that his ticket was punched out of Iowa, but it’s a bus ticket going to Antarctica. I mean, it’s not — his campaign is going nowhere.”

DeSantis spent time Tuesday in South Carolina, whose primary is fourth on the GOP schedule on Feb. 24, to court a more conservative base. But like New Hampshire, the FiveThirtyEight average shows him running third at 12.1%, behind Trump (54.8%) and Haley (24.9%), a former governor of the state.

“Realistically, it’s going to get late very early the day after New Hampshire,” said Jim Merrill, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist, to The Hill. “I think it’s going to be for everyone not named Trump, and that includes Haley. It’s going to take some clear eye on what the path forward is.”