Outspoken competitive swimmer Riley Gaines endorses DeSantis for 2024
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (FLV)- Former NCAA swimmer and spokeswoman for Independent Women’s Voice, Riley Gaines, announced in an interview on Thursday that she would be supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in 2024.
During an interview with Eric Bolling on Newsmax’s show “The Balance,” the swimmer-turned-activist, who participated in the 2022 NCAA swimming championships alongside transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, expressed her support for DeSantis and attributed his accomplishments in Florida as the primary factor behind her endorsement.
“His leadership has been crucial in rooting out the radical ideology that’s really driving this insanity really bringing visibility to these cultural issues that affect the breakdown of families, the breakdown of faith, the breakdown of freedoms,” Gaines said. “He’s really taken on this political establishment, the woke corporations, the media, and he’s won.”
Gaines is set to attend a DeSantis rally in Greenville, South Carolina, on Friday, alongside South Carolina state Rep. Ashley Trantham. Notably, Rep. Trantham is the sponsor of the Saving Women’s Sports bill.
Last March, DeSantis officially declared Emma Weyant, a Sarasota native and Floridian, as the champion of the NCAA’s Division 1 Women’s 500-yard freestyle event over league recognized winner and transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas.
“WHEREAS, a male identifying as a woman was allowed to compete in and was declared the winner of the race by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Emma was determined to have come in second place,” he said. “In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota’s Emma Weyant as the best women’s swimmer in the 500y freestyle.”
DeSantis also slammed the NCAA as an organization that is “destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud.”
