COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Many Republicans here love former President Donald Trump, but his legal troubles have them eyeing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a top alternative in the upcoming GOP caucus.
While Mr. Trump is ahead of Mr. DeSantis by more than 20 points in Iowa polls, his loyal supporters aren’t sure he’ll remain a free man if criminal charges are brought against him in several ongoing investigations.
“They’re going to put Trump in jail,” said Stan Gregory, who came to hear Mr. DeSantis speak Wednesday at the Wagon Wheel, an event venue in Council Bluffs in the state’s southwestern quadrant.
“I’m still with Trump,” Mr. Gregory said.
But he also told The Washington Times he’s ready to vote for Mr. DeSantis if Mr. Trump becomes incapacitated by his legal entanglements, which he believes are politically motivated attacks.
Susan Trede, who drove from nearby Treynor to see Mr. DeSantis, said she voted for Mr. Trump twice in the general election but the prospect of criminal charges against him and his unyielding claims of 2020 election fraud is steering her toward the Florida governor.
“Trump kind of wore out his welcome, as far as I was concerned, when he didn’t give up on the election,” she said. “And I just think we need to look in other directions. I’m pretty certain it’s DeSantis.”
Mr. DeSantis is the only GOP candidate other than Mr. Trump who scores in the double digits among Iowa’s Republican voters. But most veteran political observers predict it will be difficult for him to significantly shrink Mr. Trump’s double-digit advantage.
There’s a catch. The former president faces an unprecedented threat of becoming sidelined by federal and state prosecutors.
“DeSantis has a real opportunity if Trump’s legal problems take him out,” a top Iowa Republican official who requested anonymity told The Times. “That is part of what DeSantis may be thinking. That Trump will self-destruct in some way, and then he can pick up the pieces.”
Mr. Trump could face criminal charges in a matter of weeks, just as the Iowa caucus summer campaign season is underway and candidates are swarming the state to hold as many events and shake as many hands as possible.
There is a frenzy by an investigation in Georgia over allegations Mr. Trump tried to overturn the election following his narrow loss to President Biden in 2020. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she will announce possible charges against Mr. Trump between July 11 and Sept. 1.
Mr. Trump is facing the possibility of additional criminal charges from special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating Mr. Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol and his possession of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.
If criminal charges pile up, the state’s heavily evangelical base of GOP voters may see his general election prospects against Mr. Biden as too risky. They could dump him for Mr. DeSantis, who runs to the right of Mr. Trump on key issues, including banning abortions.
“Most evangelical voters think about strategy, and they may think if Trump just cannot win a general election they may start to turn against him,” the Iowa GOP official said. “That’s probably the only vulnerability that Trump has.”
The Trump campaign has rejected critics’ electability argument. Both Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump beat Mr. Biden in general election polls by 1 or 2 points and as Mr. Trump’s legal problems have grown, so has his advantage in the polls.
The expanding GOP presidential field has brought a litany of candidates to Iowa, but most voters view it as a battle between Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis.
The Florida governor’s supporters believe he can catch up to Mr. Trump in the polls even as additional Republicans join the race.
Seven Republicans are running for the nomination as of Wednesday and the field will expand again when former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are expected to jump in next week.
None of the candidates have been able to register beyond low single digits in Iowa, other than Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis, who are both in the state this week shaking hands and addressing voters.
“It’s a two-horse race at this point,” said Gary Volkner, who turned out at the Wagon Wheel to hear Mr. DeSantis introduce himself to a crowd. “I’m fully hopeful DeSantis can pull ahead.”
Mr. DeSantis impressed the crowd with stories about his conservative accomplishments in Florida banning “woke” education policies, promoting law and order and parental rights in education and rejecting the COVID-19 mandates and lockdowns that took over most of the country during the pandemic. He promised to take his successful record to the White House and in a veiled swipe at Mr. Trump, said he would end the losing streak in GOP elections that began in November 2020 and extended into the 2022 midterm elections, when many of Mr. Trump’s high-profile endorsements lost key Senate and governor’s races.
“We need to dispense with the culture of losing that we’ve seen throughout the Republican Party,” Mr. DeSantis said. “Not in Iowa, not in Florida, but in way too many states. We can’t make excuses. We have to be able to get the job done.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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