DeSantis Wows Pennsylvania Conservatives | Newsmax.com

In remarks Saturday to a standing-room-only gathering of conservatives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and at a private meeting of potential supporters in the Keystone State’s Republican presidential primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did nothing short of electrify both sessions.

To be sure, Donald Trump still remains a popular figure at the annual Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC) and several voiced support for the embattled former president’s comeback bid in 2024. But Newsmax found a growing number of the conservative activists at the 34-year-old conclave preferring DeSantis to Trump.

“We need a [Republican] nominee who can win the general election next year,” two-term State Rep. Rob Mercuri of Allegheny County told us, “And I hate to say it but Trump can’t do it. Now I like his policies and I like his fighting style. But a majority of people here think his time has come and passed.”

Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, agreed. “I worked with Ron when he was in the House and I liked him. I liked Trump, I supported his policies, but I don’t want those tweets back. People get upset at the name-calling. Ron DeSantis is Trump without the tweets.”

To a crowd of 800 cheering PLC participants, covered by 63 reporters, DeSantis ticked off his record as governor of what he called “the fastest-growing state in America — and one with no state income tax. You ought to try it sometime.”

The Sunshine State governor drew wild cheers when he spoke of his dealing with COVID and standing up to what he called “Faucian Dystopia — a reference to former COVID czar Anthony Fauci.

Describing Florida as a “law and order state,” DeSantis recalled how his administration had banned sanctuary cities and repatriated 11,000 illegal aliens. The Biden Administration took note of the issue, he added, “after 50 illegal immigrants showed up in beautiful Martha’s Vineyard (where DeSantis and Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott sent them).”

From banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) to going “all out against ESG [Environmental Social and Governance factors in investing],” DeSantis prompted several standing ovations and clearly won new support for his unannounced candidacy for president. He concluded with a call for his agenda in Florida to be applied nationwide and declared: “I have not yet begun to fight.”

One who decided to back the Floridian over Trump at the PLC was Al Bienstock of Golden Township. Bienstock was “a big fan of Trump’s and I like what he did. But he talks too much about the past. DeSantis talked about ‘what I will accomplish’ and I’m going to support him. I just made the decision after hearing him speak.”

Others made similar commitments to DeSantis at a private meeting just before his speech from which the press was barred. Sources told Newsmax that the governor indicated to them he would make an official announcement of candidacy by the fall (when, presumably, the Republican-controlled legislature eliminates Florida’s law requiring any office-holder seeking another office to resign that which he currently holds).

There are other opinions. Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee, told us flatly “the nominee [in ’24] will be Trump. He delivered a lot for our country and when it came to Supreme Court justices, he did even more than Ronald Reagan. And he needs to be vindicated.”

“Right now, you’re looking at the DeSantis organization in Pennsylvania,” former Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-Pa., a close friend of DeSantis and godfather to one of his three children, told us, “But I’m getting so many calls offering to volunteer for him. Watch what we get going soon.”

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.