Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said rival GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’s decision to debate Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) is “a sign of DeSantis’s desperation.”
“I’m not surprised at all. He’s put pressure on himself, he’s got to compete, he’s got to do well. If he does do poorly, I think it’s very, very fatal,” Suarez said of the Florida governor on a business podcast released Friday.
Newsom initially challenged DeSantis to a debate last September. DeSantis, facing pressure from donors and falling poll numbers, accepted the challenge Thursday. The debate is expected to take place in early November.
The move is needed to revive the DeSantis campaign, Suarez said.
“What have been the big criticisms of him? That he won’t take on rough interviews, that he’s sort of coddled … His advisors have told him that’s over. You’re not going in the right direction,” he said.
“And who knows if he’s in the race in November,” Suarez added.
DeSantis places second in most polls behind former President Donald Trump in the GOP race, but he is in a distant second place.
Recent national polling averages show DeSantis with about 14 percent support — down from about 20 percent when he launched his campaign in May — and Trump with about 53 percent support.
Suarez is receiving less than a tenth of a percent support according to the same polling averages.