Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen as a potential 2024 presidential contender, is headed to New Hampshire next month.
He is scheduled to headline the New Hampshire GOP's 2023 Amos Tuck Dinner in Manchester on April 14. The event is the state party's largest annual fundraising gala, with tickets starting at $150 and going up to $5,000 for VIP.
The keynote speaker at the last dinner in 2021 was Republican Sen. Tim Scott from South Carolina.
The New Hampshire Democratic Party issued a statement Monday after learning of DeSantis' visit, saying "Granite Staters don't want his extreme, right-wing 'blueprint' anywhere near our state."
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DeSantis, who has yet to say whether he plans to run for president, made stops in the early-voting states of Iowa and Nevada over the weekend.
More than 1,000 people showed up for DeSantis' event Friday evening in Des Moines, Iowa, where he ignited his biggest ovation by accusing schools of seeking to impose a leftist agenda on students on issues of gender and race.
“I think we really have done a great job of drawing a line in the sand and saying the purpose of our schools is to educate kids, not indoctrinate them,” DeSantis said in the auditorium on the Iowa state fairgrounds. “Parents should be able to send their kids to school without having somebody’s agenda shoved down their throat.”
DeSantis was also promoting his newly released book, “The Courage to be Free.”
The visit was an early test of DeSantis’ support in the state that will kick off the contest for the Republican nomination next year. Former President Donald Trump remains widely popular among Iowa Republicans, though positive views of the former president have slipped somewhat since he left the White House.
Several other potential 2024 Republican contenders have already visited New Hampshire. Trump spoke at the New Hampshire GOP's state convention in January, and Nikki Haley made a swing through the state last month. Former Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to speak at a Cheshire County Republican Committee meeting in Keene on Thursday.
Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, also rumored as a potential presidential candidate in 2024, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" earlier this month that he thinks DeSantis would win New Hampshire if the GOP primary were held today.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
