Hogan calls DeSantis campaign ‘somewhat of a disaster’

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Sunday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) 2024 presidential campaign is “somewhat of a disaster,” after a pro-DeSantis PAC posted a memo outlining a debate strategy for DeSantis ahead of Wednesday’s first televised event of the GOP primary. 

“Well, the campaign is somewhat of a disaster. And, I mean, it’s been one stumble after another since the failed launch of it on Twitter when he first kicked off his campaign,” Hogan said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding that this memo is “just the latest in a series of things.”

“But they’re trying to utilize the super PAC in ways that you really — nobody has in the past. And so the super PAC is spending most of the money, and they’re crossing over into territory where they can’t share information with the campaign, so they put it out there for the campaign to utilize,” Hogan said. 

DeSantis has distanced himself from the leaked memo from the Never Back Down PAC, which supports DeSantis’s presidential ambitions. He claimed Saturday that he still has not read the memo. Campaign laws bar coordination between political action committees and campaigns, and news that the super PAC released a detailed strategy memo ahead of Wednesday’s debate was an unusual move and raised some suspicion. 

“But it was a dumb move. We now know what his strategy is, and it came out publicly. I don’t even know if it’s a good strategy, because, like I said, I think people are going to be coming after DeSantis. And just defending Trump is not going to be enough. He has to distinguish himself from Trump,” Hogan said. “And he’s the number two guy at this point, so it’s going to be a tough night for him.”

The memo suggested that DeSantis defend Trump in the debate Wednesday and that he “take a sledgehammer” to candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has seen a recent increase in popularity. 

DeSantis’s campaign released a statement denying knowledge of the memo when it was leaked Thursday, saying, “This was not a campaign memo and we were not aware of it prior to the article … We are well accustomed to the attacks from all sides as the media and other candidates realize Ron DeSantis is the strongest candidate best positioned to take down Joe Biden.”