Ron DeSantis Endorses Mike Lee in First Out-of-State Ad Backing a Republican

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) endorsed Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) reelection bid in the first ad the governor has aired for an out-of-state Republican.

DeSantis called on Republicans and conservatives to back Lee’s reelection as Never Trumper and Utah independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin hopes to oust the Utah conservative.

“His opponent endorsed Biden for President. He’s no independent, he’s a donkey in sheep’s clothing. He’ll be a vote for Biden not for Utah,” DeSantis said, referring to McMullin.

DeSantis aired the ad with the Club for Growth Action, the conservative activist group that has spent $8 million on preventing McMullin from ousting Lee.

David McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth Action, said in a statement, “Utah voters know Gov. DeSantis is a conservative leader whose judgment they can trust because of his handling of Florida’s economy, schools, and the pandemic.”

Two recent polls have found that Lee has a comfortable lead over McMullin.

DeSantis’s ad backing Lee serves as the latest instance of the popular Florida governor stumping for Republican candidates across the country to rein in the excesses of Democrats in power.

The DeSantis ad follows after he just campaigned for Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) in his bid to oust New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY). A recent Trafalgar Group poll found that Zeldin took the lead in the New York gubernatorial race.

Breibtart News has cataloged how DeSantis has worked to help Republicans across many critical House, Senate, and governor races:

DeSantis stumped with Turning Point Action in August and September to boost turnout for the governor and Senate Republican candidates in key battleground states. This includes Senate Republicans such as J.D. Vance in Ohio, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Blake Masters in Arizona.

The Florida governor has also backed and campaigned for many gubernatorial candidates such as Kari Lake in Arizona, Tim Michels in Wisconsin, Republican Derek Schmitt in Kansas, Mark Ronchetti in New Mexico, and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania.

According to a source familiar with the matter, DeSantis has put out robocalls in support of Gov. Stitt, O’Dea’s Senate campaign, Michels’s campaign for Wisconsin governor, Laxalt’s Senate bid in Nevada, and more to come.

Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point Action, described DeSantis as a “model of a new conservative movement.”