Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson endorses Donald Trump for president
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson endorsed former President Donald Trump.
“The American people are not better off today than we were when Donald Trump was Commander in Chief,” he said Sunday. “We’re less safe here at home and around the world, our economy gets weaker by the day and families are paying an increasingly devastating price for DC’s economic ignorance.”
“As Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner, I know first hand the crippling impact the assault on my fellow farmers here in Florida and across the country has had on our ability to ensure a safe, abundant and affordable food supply for the American people,” Simpson said.
“Donald Trump appreciates the role the caretakers of our agriculture industry play in our food supply chain as a matter of national security,” he said. “As President, he negotiated more than 50 trade agreements to boost market access and exports for American goods.”
Simpson also touted Trump giving $30 billion to support “struggling farmers and ranchers” during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We need a proven champion for the American Dream that respects the dignity of a job and rewards hard work,” he said. “We need to send Donald J Trump back to the White House!”
Ron DeSantis drops out of 2024 race, endorses Donald Trump for president
The governor made the announcement just a couple days before the New Hampshire primary, where polls were projecting a single digit third place finish for him.
“Now, following our second place finish in Iowa, we’ve prayed and deliberated on the way forward,” he said. “If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it.”
“But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory accordingly,” DeSantis said. “I am today suspending my campaign.”
On the former president, he said Trump is facing relentless “lawfare” from Democrats.
“I’ve had disagreements with Donald Trump such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden – that is clear,” he said. “He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear.”
“A repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” the governor continued.
“The mission continues down here in Florida,” he said. “We will continue to show the country how to lead.”
Trump-supporting Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz celebrated the move and posted a picture of the two together when DeSantis was a congressman.
“Team DeSantis is UNIFYING behind President Donald Trump,” he said.
“Welcome Home, Ron! It’s great to have America’s Governor back onside,” Gaetz said.
State Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville, said the “race is over” and called on the Republican Party of Florida to quickly back Trump now that their home-state governor is out of the race.
Florida House Speaker-Designate Daniel Perez, R-Miami, also announced his support for Trump.
“Floridians have delivered for President Trump twice before, and we will work nonstop to do so again this November,” Perez said.
Another state lawmaker, Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, endorsed Trump and praised DeSantis for “being a class act.”
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, additionally announced his backing of Trump for the 2024 election, calling for an end to the “infighting.”
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley would now face Trump one-on-one both in New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina, should she remain in the running.
DeSantis’ campaign lasted around eight months, launching in late-May 2023.
Back in Florida, lawmakers have been convening for the 2024 Legislative Session and considering bills ranging from topics like gun sales, to protecting children from social media harms, banning lab-grown meat and more.
The session ends on March 8.
