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Florida Freedom Summit this weekend
Evan Axelbank reports
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - After he led them to big victories in 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis is used to getting the biggest applause at state GOP events.
But he will be sharing the stage with the former president who is leading him in the polls and is stealing his endorsements.
Election night 2022 was the night DeSantis thought he had proven himself.
After his historic trouncing of the Florida Democratic Party, he assumed national Republicans would see newly red Florida as their path to power.
"We faced attacks," DeSantis said then. "We took the hits."
But even after batches of criminal charges over his finances, the January 6th insurrection, and mishandling classified documents, it is Donald Trump who sits in the GOP driver's seat.
He is leading DeSantis 59-13 nationally and 49-17 in Iowa in recent polls.
"DeSanctus (sic) is losing to Biden in all cases," said Trump in August during a speech in Iowa. "I wouldn't take a chance on that one."
And now, Donald Trump's political operation is trying to convince Florida Republicans who have endorsed DeSantis to flip.
State Rep. Randy Fine, who is speaking at this weekend's event, did so after criticizing DeSantis for the way he has responded to growing anti-Semitism in Florida.
Rick Scott has broken a long-standing practice of not endorsing in GOP battles.
READ: Florida Senator Rick Scott endorses Trump for president over DeSantis; 'It's time to unite'
"Trump has a commanding lead," said Scott during an interview on Monday. "It is going to be awfully hard. If you stop and think about it, he's a prior president. He has a record for a better economy than Biden does. He has a record for a secure border better than Biden. He has a record for not getting us into war, I think that is pretty hard to beat."
Democrats will point out that the US is not at war, that the border is impacted by many factors like violence in Central America, and that the economy has added jobs and expanded under Biden.
Featured speakers for the Florida Freedom Summit in Kissimmee.
They ridiculed the GOP summit.
"We have seen here in the state of Florida and across the country that the MAGA extremism has done everything in their power to take away peoples' rights," said state Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried.
Ron DeSantis has urged Donald Trump to debate one-on-one. Even though they're speaking at different times this weekend, it may well be the closest he gets.
Gov. Desantis will speak at 1:30 on Saturday, but Donald Trump got the keynote slot on Saturday evening.
"People will act like 2020, Biden was such a disaster," DeSantis said during a stop in Tampa in October. "I don’t think anybody voted for Biden; they were voting against Trump.
This weekend's event will feature several other presidential candidates, including Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Tim Scott.