The competition between former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to win New Hampshire voters in the Republican primary is already a brawl.
Before the two candidates arrived in the Granite State to meet with voters Tuesday, they were trading insults over clashing campaign events.
Mr. Trump, the party front-runner, accused Mr. DeSantis of breaking campaign protocol by holding a town hall event at the same time that the former president will be addressing a sold-out luncheon for Republican women.
Mr. Trump’s campaign called the DeSantis campaign “rude” for scheduling a town hall with voters in Hollis, which is about an hour away from Concord, where the former president will headline the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women’s 76th Lilac Luncheon.
The DeSantis team responded with accusations of “dirty politics,” after a board member for the federation asked the DeSantis campaign to reschedule their town hall event.
Neither campaign is budging; the dueling events will go on as planned. The fight foreshadows an intense battle between them.
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New Hampshire is poised to hold the nation’s first primary and while the polling gap between Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis is in double-digit territory, the Florida governor has held on to a sizable chunk of GOP voters in the state.
Mr. Trump is ahead of Mr. DeSantis by about 22 points, according to a polling average calculated by RealClearPolitics.
Three polls taken in June of likely New Hampshire GOP primary voters showed Mr. Trump with up to 49% of support, while Mr. DeSantis garnered up to 23%.
Mr. DeSantis’ second-place status and double-digit support will keep the Trump campaign on the attack in New Hampshire.
“He’s a potential threat. They don’t want him to become a threat,” said Dave Carney, a veteran New Hampshire political strategist. “I think they feel they have the best arguments against DeSantis right now and they are not going to let go.”
Mr. DeSantis continues to appeal to voters who see him as the candidate who can defeat President Biden, particularly in critical swing states.
A new poll of Michigan voters showed Mr. DeSantis beating Mr. Biden by a point, while Mr. Trump tied with Mr. Biden.
Polling shows Mr. Trump has lost some GOP support since he was indicted on June 12 on federal felony charges related to his possession of classified government documents.
Mr. Trump’s lead over Mr. DeSantis dropped by two points, and his advantage over the field of all GOP candidates fell from 22 points to 13 points, according to pollster Ron Faucheux.
“Trump still rides high atop the GOP field, but has lost some strength with Republican primary voters since the last indictment,” Mr. Faucheux said.
Much of the lost support went to Republican candidates other than Mr. DeSantis, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, according to his polling.
“That is not a good sign for DeSantis, he’s still paying for his botched campaign launch,” Mr. Faucheux said, referring to the Florida governor’s presidential campaign announcement on Twitter that stalled when the site crashed.
The fight between Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump in New Hampshire is already causing collateral damage.
Two members of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women resigned over the federation’s president’s letter asking Mr. DeSantis to reschedule his event.
Federation President Elizabeth Girard, in a statement, called the DeSantis town hall “an attempt to pull focus” from the luncheon, which is also a major fundraiser for the federation and “diminishes the efforts of the Republican women in New Hampshire who are volunteers, working to provide opportunities for our membership to have access to all the candidates.”
Board member Kate Day, who served as the federation’s public relations chair, announced she was never consulted about the bid to get Mr. DeSantis to reschedule.
“I would have advised against any negative statement against a candidate, thereby violating our neutrality policy for our NH First in the Nation Primary,” she said.
The DeSantis-aligned political action committee Never Back Down said the Trump campaign played a role in trying to squash the DeSantis event.
“The board was never consulted about this letter before it was sent unilaterally,” Never Back Down officials tweeted. “Dirty politics by the establishment elite!”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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