The 2016 Republican primary victory of Donald Trump over Sen. Ted Cruz, R - Texas, didn't just make Trump the leading figure of the GOP, it also shifted the center of the party's politics away from the Lone Star State towards the Sunshine State.
The former President's orbit in Palm Beach County and his chief rival in the 2024 primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has reshaped the GOP politics in the last few years. DeSantis was a member of Congress before an underdog win in the state's primary who went on to edge out a win in the 2018 general election for Governor. The pandemic made DeSantis a nationwide figure after publicly bucking many public health measures.
A Trump endorsement was a key reason why DeSantis became governor. In the past year, the two have been on a collision course. NBC News Florida-based reporter Matt Dixon has had a front-row seat and wrote a book about it: Swamp Monsters. He spoke with about it with Lone Star Politics.
"Simply the fact that Donald Trump wanted to be President again. Ron DeSantis was seen as the biggest hurdle at one point, just kind of scene as in his way," said Matt Dixon in an interview.
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Trump and DeSantis are the two leading contenders in the Iowa Caucuses. The race between them has been a well-documented series of insults, back-and-forths, and intrigue. According to a recent NBC News/Des Moines Register poll, Trump leads DeSantis 51% to 19%.
"I would say that the consistent thread of the circling of the drain of that relationship is this idea that Trump doesn't think DeSantis is loyal and he should've been," said Dixon.
National Republican figures used to come from Texas: former President George Bush, former Governor Rick Perry, and a slew of other members of Congress, advisors, and political operators. The focus has now shifted to Florida with Trump, DeSantis, Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio.
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"I think Donald Trump is the easiest and the most succinct answer. The post-Trump, post-MAGA, America First, whatever the branding of the day is since that came on the scene... Florida has sort of become the functional headquarters of the GOP. That has to do with DeSantis had his huge national rise. Trump is here and now a resident. A lot of things flow through Mar-a-Lago. Actually, both Trump and DeSantis being here, another huge byproduct of that is huge national political conventions that used to always be in D.C. Florida sees a lot more of those," said Dixon.
