Lawmaker Reveals Why She Flipped From DeSantis To Trump
A New Hampshire state lawmaker has announced her decision to support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, after previously supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ®.
Speaking with One America News, New Hampshire state Rep. Sandra Panek (R) said that DeSantis’ botched campaign announcement made her decision easy.
“We can’t expect someone to run the country if they can’t simply run a smooth campaign launch,” Panek told the outlet.
On Wednesday evening, DeSantis launched his presidential campaign on a Twitter Spaces event with Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Republican donor David Sacks, a DeSantis supporter and Musk ally. While many praised the Republican governor for his choice of the free speech platform as the venue for his campaign launch instead of giving airtime to the mainstream media, the launch went poorly. From the beginning, the livestream was plagued with technical difficulties, leading a significant number of people to drop out of the Twitter Space long before DeSantis was able to announce his campaign.
Following the botched campaign launch, Panek decided to flip her allegiance to Trump — which came after she was previously listed as one of more than 50 New Hampshire elected officials backing DeSantis in May, a list that was released by pro-DeSantis PAC “Never Back Down.”
Panek flipped her allegiances from DeSantis to former President Donald Trump following DeSantis’ Twitter Space campaign launch.
“The stakes are simply too great in 2024 to take a chance on someone as unreliable as DeSantis,” Panek explained. “We need a proven winner like President Trump to take back the White House and Make America Great Again!”
Trump’s campaign team celebrated Panek’s decision, noting that “Republicans in New Hampshire and around the country recognize that President Trump is the only candidate who can beat Joe Biden.”
Panek went on to say that DeSantis’ “miserable” campaign launch “contributed” to her decision to rescind her endorsement of the Florida governor in favor of Trump.
“This was a miserable launch,” she explained. “Too much stumbling and bumbling. The rollout campaign launch was too chaotic. Not well thought out.”
“The bumpy campaign announcement contributed to my switch,” Panek added. “With DeSantis, you’re getting Trump without the charisma. I want the real deal.”
She also cited Trump’s record of promoting peace around the world as part of the reason she has decided to support the former president.
“President Trump will be known as our Peace President if you just give peace a chance,” Panek said. “Look what he accomplished with Kim Jung Un. He’s the only candidate stating that he will sit down with Putin on his first day in office and put an end to the Ukraine war. Right now, we are at the brink of a nuclear war.”
Panek isn’t the first member of Never Back Down’s list to endorse Trump. When the list was first announced, the pro-DeSantis PAC claimed that it included “four New Hampshire Republicans who endorsed Trump 19 days ago.”
However, two of those four lawmakers — Reps. Juliet Harvey-Bolia and Lisa Smart, have pushed back against their inclusion on that list.
“I’m proud to announce my full endorsement for President Trump, and only Trump,” Harvey-Bolia tweeted on May 24. “He’ll keep us out of war and prosperous as he has in the past. Ron DeSantis will make a great candidate in 2028.”
Smart went one step further, calling out the pro-DeSantis PAC for their “games” and arguing that she has always supported Trump.
“I was so incredibly proud to join many of my colleagues in endorsing President Donald J. Trump last month and my support for him has not changed,” she said in a statement. “I’m dismayed by the games played by Never Back Down. And I will not be participating in any activities with Ron DeSantis.”
While DeSantis has raised more than $8.2 million since his campaign launch, he is still trailing far behind Trump in nearly every poll. According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Trump is up by more than 30 points over DeSantis.
“He is the most qualified and best equipped to take down the deep state and drain the swamp,” Panek said. “Trump has the experience and a proven track record.”
