‘I hope he does it’: Kentucky’s Massie likely to endorse DeSantis for president
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has earned a reputation as a bit of a social misfit: a loner who is deficient at the backslapping, schmoozy part of the job.
To Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, he’s an old dinner buddy who loved devouring the nuts and bolts of policy and politics over a plate of fish.
“He’s a foodie. He would do research on new places to eat,” Massie told McClatchy in a recent interview, recalling that the two were inside Washington’s Luke’s Lobster when Congressman Eric Cantor lost his 2014 primary race in Virginia.
“Ron DeSantis predicted it before anybody else,” said Massie, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It wasn’t a lowest common denominator discussion when we would hang out.”
The rambunctious Massie and the more insular DeSantis might seem like an unlikely pairing, but the two formed a bond that emanated from coming into Congress together after scoring their first victories during the 2012 election cycle. They quickly found a shared relish for picking a fight.
Now more than a decade later, as DeSantis moves closer to a run for president, Massie looks to be a potentially early backer.
“I hope he does it,” Massie said of DeSantis’ consideration of a campaign for the White House.
He added there’s a “very strong chance” he’ll be in DeSantis’ corner when the moment arrives.
DeSantis’ official launch appears to still be a couple months away after Florida’s legislature gavels out of session in May. But his burgeoning political operation is already building a support base that spans across the country.
Massie was one of a handful of lawmakers who was invited to DeSantis’ three-day retreat in Palm Beach last month that drew approximately 150 deep-pocketed donors, conservative luminaries like Ann Coulter and “Libs of TikTok” influencer Chaya Raichik as well as governors, U.S. Senators and members of the House.
Blake Brickman, the former chief of staff to former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, was also in attendance.
Massie wasn’t invited by a political operative. DeSantis called him personally and asked him to sit on a panel about the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a signature issue for both politicians. DeSantis moderated about two-thirds of the panels himself, which impressed Massie.
“It made him look like what he is, which is a leader,” Massie said. “I think it made him look really strong to have three other governors there and to talk about what was working in their states.”
Only one other person in the room oozed the same star power, according to Massie, DeSantis’ wife, Casey.
“Ron was in danger of Casey stealing the show,” Massie said. “Wow. She comes across as somebody who could definitely be a great First Lady.”
Massie recalled that when COVID-19 hit and Congress sought to move quickly to pass relief through the Cares Act, DeSantis dialed him to express solidarity with Massie’s demand that lawmakers take an in-person, recorded vote just as the pandemic was cresting and Americans were quarantining.
“Ron DeSantis called me up and said, ‘I know we’re on the wrong side of the polls on this. But I’m going to lean into it. Because, in a year or two, people are going to realize we’re right,’” Massie said.
The two were in agreement that the federal government was overreacting and overspending in its response.
“We commiserated on how we were getting hammered on this, but we were both quite certain that it was the right thing to do and that the passage of time and as people saw what happened to their economies and inflation, that we would be proven right. I didn’t call Ron. Ron took the initiative to call me,” Massie said.
A DeSantis spokesperson did not address questions on the governor’s relationship with Massie.
Florida ended up receiving $8 billion in direct aid as part of the Cares Act, which was signed into law by former President Donald Trump, who targeted Massie at the time for what he called grandstanding.
Now as DeSantis prepares for what’s anticipated to be an eminently contentious primary clash with Trump, Massie could be caught in the former president’s crosshairs again.
But Massie said he’s been privy to a poll commissioned in late December by Savannah Maddox’s campaign for governor that showed DeSantis ahead of Trump 49% to 37% in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up in Kentucky, an outcome that surprised him. Maddox, who since withdrew from the race, employed Fabrizio, Lee & Associates as her pollster, according to campaign finance disclosure documents. Fabrizio & Lee served as Trump’s primary pollster for both of his presidential campaigns.
Massie wouldn’t be the first sitting Republican congressman to jump aboard the DeSantis train early.
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas announced his decision to preemptively back DeSantis earlier this month, citing the need for “younger, proven leadership.”
Massie declined to go as far in the interview with McClatchyDC.
“I’d like to make that announcement elsewhere,” he said, laughing. “I might do it on Twitter.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2023 at 7:00 AM with the headline "‘I hope he does it’: Kentucky’s Massie likely to endorse DeSantis for president."
