DeSantis says no to Ramaswamy’s call to remove himself from Colorado ballot after Trump ruling

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissed calls to remove his name from Colorado’s primary ballot by fellow GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in protest of the state’s high court disqualifying former President Donald Trump.

“I think that’s just playing into the left,” Mr. DeSantis told Newsmax’s “Newsline” Wednesday. “I’ve qualified for all the ballots. I’m competing in all the states, and I’m going to accumulate the delegates necessary. That’s the whole name of the game in this situation.”

The Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday said the former president engaged in an insurrection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The 4-3 decision said Mr. Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and the court removed his name from the state’s March 5 GOP primary ballot.

Mr. DeSantis said he believes the ruling against Mr. Trump is “political” and will “get reversed.”

Mr. Ramaswamy announced Tuesday that he would remove his name from the Colorado primary ballot and would put his name back the ballot only if the ruling is overturned. He called on Mr. DeSantis and the other candidates — former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — to withdraw their names.

He called the ruling an “attack on democracy.”

“I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is also allowed to be on the state’s ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley to do the same immediately — or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” Mr. Ramaswamy wrote on X Tuesday.

At a campaign event Wednesday in Iowa, Mr. DeSantis said the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision was an example of Democrats and media allies working together to energize Mr. Trump’s primary base so they can focus on his legal issues in the general election.

“That’s their plan. That’s what they want. What they don’t want is to have somebody like me, who will make the election not about those other issues but make the election about the failures of Biden, the failures of the left, and how we’re going to be able to turn the country around,” Mr. DeSantis said. “If that’s how the election is framed, we will win.”