Tensions within the GOP reached a boil as DeSantis campaigned in Hollis, N.H., while Trump attended the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women’s Lilac Luncheon in Concord.
The GOP women’s group had asked DeSantis to reschedule his event given that Trump was attending theirs on the same day – prompting some members of the organization to resign in protest.
“After the NHFRW Lilac Luncheon announced their event was sold out, the DeSantis campaign announced a town hall for the same day,” Katy Day, one of the members who resigned, told The Hill’s Julia Manchester. “This is not unusual, not an issue, and absolutely a welcomed event for those wanting to see Gov. DeSantis. We often have multiple events overlap throughout the state during the first in the nation primary.”
The clash of competing events in the state underscored how critical New Hampshire is for the eventual GOP nominee. Trump won the state’s primary back in 2016 after placing second in Iowa behind Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that cycle.
Recent polling suggests Trump’s lead isn’t fading. A poll released by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on Tuesday found that 47 percent of respondents said their preference for the GOP nominee was Trump, compared to 19 percent who said DeSantis.
“Ron DeSantis is the underdog. Donald Trump is the king of New Hampshire right now until someone dethrones him,” New Hampshire-based Republican strategist Jim Merrill told Julia. “You’ve got to be aggressive and proactive and I think the DeSantis campaign is doing some of that, but I think this episode is an example that the Trump campaign is going to leave no stone unturned.”
