Newly declared presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he and wife Casey plan to crisscross early voting states with a dizzying schedule of campaign stops beginning next week — a direct challenge to former President Donald Trump’s endurance.
The initial barnstorming blitz, sources told The Post, is meant to deliver an early impression of the 44-year-old DeSantis as a youthful and vigorous counterpoint to the 76-year-old Trump.
“When we work, we work very hard,” the Florida governor said in a call with reporters. “We’re not just going to show up once in a blue moon. I mean, we’re there. We’re going to paint every corner of these early states. And that will start in earnest next week.”
ABC News reported Thursday that DeSantis will hold a “campaign kickoff” in Des Moines, Iowa, May 30, triggering a four-day swing through 12 stops in states including New Hampshire and South Carolina.
While Trump’s stamina and breakneck schedule has often been remarked upon, sources said DeSantis’ advisers see the 45th president’s age as a potential handicap as the former allies vie for party dominance.
“Trump outworked [Hillary] Clinton,” a DeSantis source told The Post. “Trump outworked [Joe] Biden. He’s not going to outwork us. That’s one aspect we can control here.”
Trump has made relatively few public appearances outside his Mar-a-Lago resort since announcing his third consecutive White House bid this past November.
He held a rally in New Hampshire in late April before returning to the Granite State earlier this month for a controversial CNN town hall.
He also opted to postpone a scheduled Des Moines rally due to the threat of severe weather.
The former president strafed DeSantis on social media Wednesday night as he unfurled his candidacy, tarring the Sunshine State governor as everything from a closeted RINO to an awkward ingrate.
DeSantis fired back at his rival on the call, building on one of his central lines of attack — questioning Trump’s commitment to conservatism.
The Florida governor said Trump has attacked him for opposing a pair of initiatives he backed while in the White House — namely an omnibus spending bill and an immigration amnesty plan.
“He’s drawing, I think, a helpful contrast with me,” DeSantis said. “Absolutely, I think he should not have signed those omnibus spending bills. He added almost $8 trillion to the debt in a four-year period of time. I’m happy to be on the conservative side of that debate, because I think our debts have gone up way too much.”
The governor also cast Trump’s support for an immigration bill that would have carved out some funding for the border wall as a camouflaged capitulation.
“I oppose amnesty,” he said. “That was supposed to be America First policies that oppose amnesty. And yet he endorsed and tried to ram through an amnesty. And so these are contrasts that I’m happy to discuss.”
DeSantis also downplayed Trump’s daunting lead in most polls, attributing the margin to the former president’s celebrity and name recognition.
“I would be shocked if the former president wasn’t leading,” he said. “He’s 100% name ID — one of the most famous people in the world and had been president of the United States.”
The governor said he expects to chip away at Trump’s advantage once his campaign begins to pick up speed.
“This thing is just starting,” he said. “I don’t think the average Republican voter is obsessing over this yet. I think that’ll take some time. But I think we have these next few months to build out what we need to build out.”
While some Republican observers fret that the intraparty clash could irreparably cleave the GOP, DeSantis said his policies would ultimately serve as a unifying force.
“It’s not like I’m taking policy positions that are alienating massive swaths of Republicans,” he said. “And so people are going to see someone who has got a record of success, who’s representing the values of the vast majority of our party professes to hold.”
DeSantis, who announced his bid on Twitter Spaces from Tallahassee, plans to travel to Miami Thursday to address a gathering of prominent donors at the Four Seasons hotel.
