DeSantis accepts CNN debate in New Hampshire

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will attend CNN’s debate in New Hampshire next month.

“Given the short amount of time between the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire’s primary, participating in multiple debates on different networks is the best way for Granite State voters to hear the contrast between the candidates as well as their closing arguments,” Andrew Romeo, DeSantis’s communications director, wrote in a a statement posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Friday.

CNN announced earlier this month that it would host two Republican presidential primary debates in January, one in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 10 and one in Goffstown, N.H. on Jan. 21. 

In the statement, Romeo also went after GOP primary candidate former United Nations (U.N.) Ambassador Nikki Haley for a recent incident in which she failed to mention slavery as the cause behind the Civil War when asked about it at a town hall in New Hampshire.

“Nikki Haley’s recent flub about the cause of the Civil War shows that she isn’t ready for primetime, but this debate will give her an opportunity to finally clean up her mess with the people of New Hampshire,” Romeo continued. “And for Donald Trump, this debate will provide him with the perfect setting to stop cowering behind his teleprompter and step into the arena.”

Romeo’s swing at Haley echoes DeSantis’ recent criticism of Haley’s Civil War remarks, in which he said her answer to the question was “incomprehensible world salad” and that she is “not a candidate that’s ready for prime time.”

“You’re going to get asked a lot of tough questions. That’s just the nature of this business,” he said. “And I think that she shows time and time again that when the lights get hot, that she wilts under pressure, and that was a good example last night.”