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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has been touted as a potential Republican rival to Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination.
Republicans who hate the thought of another Trump nomination are said to consider the moderate Old Dominion conservative a ‘lifeboat’ candidate, as former golden boy Ron DeSantis continues to founder in polls.
Youngkin, 56, knocked off longtime Clinton family ally and former governor of the liberal-leaning state Terry McAuliffe in 2021, with many suggesting he was part of a new wave of Republican leaders.
However, with the GOP failed to meet expectations in 2022’s midterms and still have yet to come up with a substantial alternative to the controversial Trump, Youngkin’s name is being suggested as a ‘lifeboat’ candidate according to some.
The Virginia governor has an approval rating of 57 percent in a state Biden won by 10 points in 2020, with polls showing he’d be the first Republican to win a presidential race in the liberal-leaning state since 2004 in people voted today.
With Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis and former Trump loyalist Chris Christie among those flopping , one more fresh Republican has been touted to take on Trump: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin
Youngkin, who is term-limited and cannot run for governor again in 2025, claims he is more focused on his own state’s November assembly elections.
Earlier this year, Axios reported he was considering re-entering the 2024 race – having previously dropped out – after DeSantis performed far worse than expected on the campaign trail.
‘I’m excited about the midterms,’ he told the Wall Street Journal. ‘It gives us a chance to take our case back to voters and say, ‘This is how we’ve done. We’d like for you to extend our license to lead by electing a House that’s led by Republicans and flipping the Senate.”
He endorsed ten primary candidates this summer and each one of them advanced to the November general.
‘If Mr. Youngkin flips the Senate in the fall, and no alternative to Mr. Trump has emerged, the pressure for the governor to jump into the presidential race will be enormous, no matter looming state filing deadlines,’ the Journal’s editorial board writes.
It comes after DeSantis and his wife Casey were heckled by furious protesters who referenced an embarrassing claim that the Florida governor eats chocolate pudding with his hands.
The aspiring 2024 presidential candidate and his glamorous wife walked awkwardly away as two women in t-shirts emblazoned with the words ‘Bitches get stuff done’ targeted them in Menlo, Iowa, on Friday.
Heather Ryan, 51, screeched her protest into a megaphone at the top of her voice, then launched into a foul-mouthed tirade at a male bystander who tried to stop her.
Onlookers claim she also branded DeSantis ‘pudding fingers,’ although that moment wasn’t caught on camera.
It was a reference to a Daily Beast story published earlier this year claiming the lawmaker eats chocolate pudding without utensils, a claim which DeSantis has denied, but which has continued to haunt him since.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and wife Casey were met by two vocal hecklers at their first stop of a six-town tour of Iowa on Friday
The two liberal protesters donned all black and stood next to the Freedom Rock in Menlo, Iowa awaiting DeSantis’ arrival
CAUTION, STRONG LANGUAGE
Instead he moved on to talk about his commitment to restoring the U.S. Military to a mission first mentality. He said that the protesters at the Melo Freedom Rock don’t respect veterans.
‘Racist, Fascist, anti-gay. Ron DeSantis, go away,’ Heather Ryan, 51, from Bondurant, Iowa and Kara Ryan, 28, of Des Moines, Iowa shouted into a megaphone.
Donald Trump has also jumped on the chocolate pudding claims claims and included a line about DeSantis’ ‘dirty fingers’ in one of his ads.
The claims have stoked claims that DeSantis is a socially-awkward candidate who lacks the charisma needed to power him to the White House.
DeSantis, a former GOP golden boy over his stewardship of the Sunshine State, continues to slump in polls, with numbers from FiveThirtyEight showing he’s the choice of just 14.3 percent of GOP voters, verses 53.7 percent who’d like to see Donald Trump run for president again.
The Ryan ladies told DailyMail.com that they were tipped off about DeSantis’ very intimate stop in Menlo from TikTok.
‘They’re not even from this county and they come and they want to scream over other people,’ DeSantis told press while still being drowned out by the bullhorn chants and ringing of cowbells. ‘That’s not how we work. And we want to lift people up, we want to aim higher. We want a country that can be united again.’
‘People like that are holding this country back,’ he added. ‘People like this are why we lose as Americans, because they have no respect for what these people who wear the uniform did. And they don’t care about honoring the people who stood up and fought for us.’
‘So as the only veteran running for president I can tell you I care. It means a lot to me.’
Heather Ryan told DailyMail.com that she thinks of DeSantis as the devil.
‘I’m protesting Satan,’ Ryan said. ‘So that’s what I’m protesting. He is Satan.’
‘I think he’s more dangerous than Trump because he’s smarter than Trump,’ she added. ‘Trump’s a moron. You know, Trump has a big personality, so he’s actually probably I’m sure gonna get the nomination. DeSantis doesn’t have a personality – but he’s still dangerous.’
The protester shouted into a megaphone, ‘Racist, Fascist, anti-gay. Ron DeSantis, go away,’ as the Never Back Down PAC campaign bus pulled into the first stop
‘People like that are holding this country back. People like this are why we lose as Americans, because they have no respect for what these people who wear the uniform did,’ DeSantis explained while the protesting persisted
Heather Ryan, 51, from Bondurant, Iowa (right) and Kara Ryan, 28, of Des Moines, Iowa (left) told DailyMail.com that they are protesting the ‘devil’ and claim DeSantis is ‘more dangerous’ than Trump because he’s ‘smarter’ than the ex-President
DeSantis & Co. are barnstorming Iowa this week ahead of their appearance at the State Fair on Saturday.
The first-in-the-nation primary caucus state will welcome nearly all presidential candidates to speak on the Political Soapbox, sit down for a ‘fairside chat’ with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, mingle with fair goers and charm caucus-goers by flipping some burgers or trying unique food selections.
The only 2024 hopefuls that aren’t making an appearance at the Fair are former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection. Biden faces two Democratic competitors, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson, both of whom are coming to Iowa over the weekend.
Taking off from the capital city of Des Moines on Friday morning, DeSantis’ first stop of the day was at the Freedom Rock in Menlo where protesters were the first to greet him.
He went on to a much more welcoming crowd at the Downtowner Family Restaurant in Atlantic, then stopped at an American Legion in Harlan before making a quick pit stop at the Audubon truck stop.
The day wrapped with a very brief visit at a Windstar Lines Charter Bus Company location before his town hall in Panora, Iowa.
