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Cuccinelli: Timing ‘perfect’ for DeSantis to announce run

  • Ron DeSantis is expected to announce a run for the White House
  • PAC founder Ken Cuccinelli says the timing is "perfect" 
  • DeSantis is trailing Donald Trump in polls by as much as 30 points

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(NewsNation) — Ron DeSantis is expected to launch a run for the White House next week, which the founder of a pro-DeSantis political action committee says is the “perfect” timing for the Florida governor.

Ken Cuccinelli, former Virginia attorney general and founder of the DeSantis political action committee Never Back Down, said Thursday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” DeSantis’ is positioned as well as anyone to challenge Donald Trump in the Republican primary.

“Coming off one of the greatest legislative sessions any chief executive has ever had in any state anywhere, the timing is perfect as it can be right now,” Cuccinelli said. “He’s done a great job in Florida.”

DeSantis is facing some political headwinds, trailing Trump in polls by as many as 30 percentage points. He’s also in the middle of a political and legal battle with Disney over control of the company’s Orlando theme park.

On Thursday, Disney announced it is scrapping plans for a $1 billion investment for a new campus in Florida, escalating the feud.

It all started last year when Disney voiced opposition to legislation barring instruction on gender identity and sexuality in kindergarten through third grade. DeSantis said the company was engaging in “woke” ideology.

Since then, the Republican legislature has stripped Disney of its self-governing powers and established an oversight board with members appointed by DeSantis. The tit-for-tat has led to at least one lawsuit over the legality of an agreement by the previous board that effectively rendered the new one powerless.

Cuccinelli downplayed any potential negative impact on the feud.

“This is a project announced two years ago that’s been dormant ever since, so this wasn’t a loss of jobs,” Cuccinelli said of Disney’s scrapping the $1 billion development. “This was a company that’s lost a quarter-billion dollars on two of its recent woke movies and doesn’t have the money to go forward.”

DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said the state had been unsure whether the new Disney campus would come to fruition since it was announced nearly two years ago.

“Given the company’s financial straits, falling market cap and declining stock price, it is unsurprising that they would restructure their business operations and cancel unsuccessful ventures,” Redfern said.

Other Republicans, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have suggested DeSantis resolve the feud with Disney.

On the polling front, Cuccinelli said “I always run like I’m behind” and said he expects DeSantis to do the same.

“He won in some tough territory. He won by double digits in Miami-Dade County while helping the Republicans take that school board,” he said. “That’s the kind of success and winner’s track record that he’s earned with policy wins. When he gets to tell that story across the country, I think you’re going to see a major turn in his direction.”

Former Republican Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh disagrees.

“I don’t know if this Disney fight will play well with Republicans,” he said Thursday on “CUOMO.” “On policy, this is horrible. … Ron DeSantis is using the power of government to punish a private company. That will play well with the base, but my God, with Republicans overall and certainly in a general election, that’s death. Americans don’t want that.”

2024 Election

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