- Trump urged voters at a rally in Miami to reelect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
- The forner president has previously said he'd vote for DeSantis but just nicknamed him "DeSanctimonious."
MIAMI, Florida — Former President Donald Trump kicked off a rally here on Sunday evening by urging voters to support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Election Day, despite having just christened the governor with a new nickname.
Trump took the stage at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition calling for the crowd to "reelect Ron DeSantis as your governor." The night before, Trump mocked DeSantis directly and publicly as "Ron DeSanctimonious" at a rally in Pennsylvania while talking about Republicans who might enter the 2024 presidential primary.
Trump's rally on Sunday — just two days before Election Day — was primarily aimed at supporting Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for a third term, though numerous other top Florida Republicans were present, including Sen. Rick Scott, as well as Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz, and top state officials.
DeSantis wasn't included. The governor instead held three campaign events of his own on the opposite coast of the state. He did not mention Trump in his speeches and instead focused on touting his accomplishments as governor.
DeSantis, 44, has been polling second to Trump in a hypothetical 2024 GOP presidential primary. As the midterms near, Trump has been taking shots at the governor on his social media site, Truth Social, including sharing an Insider article that featured GOP strategist John Thomas saying DeSantis shouldn't run against him.
When DeSantis ran for governor in 2018 he campaigned heavily on Trump's support and won by roughly 30,000 votes. This year DeSantis appears poised to win Florida by a much higher margin but hasn't sought Trump's endorsement.
On Sunday, Trump again teased a 2024 presidential run, saying, "In order to make our country successful, safe and glorious, I will probably have to do it again," and "we are going to take back that magnificent White House."
Trump, 76, appears poised to make an official announcement soon, perhaps as early as November 14, Axios reported.
President Joe Biden, who will be 80 this month, has said he intends to run again.
DeSantis, meanwhile, wouldn't commit to serving a four-year term when his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, asked him about it during the October 24 gubernatorial debate.
Several Trump supporters Insider interviewed on Sunday evening had not heard the DeSantis nickname. They laughed when Insider shared it with them.
"I don't think they're on the best terms, but it is what it is," said Jorge Rios II, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Miami. "They're both great people."
Others brushed off the prospect that DeSantis and Trump were in a growing rivalry. Donnie Fernandez, a Miami resident, said DeSantis could only attend so many events. "This was a rushed event out of the blue," he said. "I understand he wasn't able to make it." He added that he thought Trump's nickname for DeSantis could be viewed as "playful."
Jeff and Roland, both of Fort Myers, Florida, and who declined to share their last names, told Insider they hoped Trump would announce soon not only that he was running for president — but that DeSantis would be his running mate.
Rios told Insider he'd hoped the former president might even announce a 2024 campaign that evening. Rios and Fernandez said they'd rather keep DeSantis as governor of Florida for now, and for him to run in 2028.
"We want him here," Rios said. " If he leaves us, who are we going to get?"