Termed-out DeSantis faces bleak future after presidential bid flop: report

Any hope Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) might have had that he could beat Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican Party's presidential nomination appears all but dead — and that could mean his political future will meet the same fate, according to a report.

The report from NPR states that a substantial number of Florida Republican voters have been repulsed by his decision to challenge the former president, and now he faces being termed out as governor with nowhere to go in 2026.

As NPR noted, DeSantis has seen his star dim since he used his landslide victory over Charlie Crist as a launching pad to run for president which, in turn, infuriated some of the people who have been his biggest supporters.

"Despite winning a landslide election in the state two years ago, DeSantis hasn't been able to win over enough base GOP voters," NPR's Ashley Lopez wrote, offering a quote from Florida voter Sally Maltais who recently attended a Trump rally in Hialeah.

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According to Maltais, "He backstabbed our president. And now I have no respect for DeSantis. I'm sorry. I don't. I won't vote for him again."

As NPR's Lopez notes, Florida voters may not get that opportunity again after 2026 anyway.

Florida State Rep. Randy Fine (R), who switched his allegiance from DeSantis to Trump, stated the current governor has few political paths to take after being termed out.

"I think that's part of the reason why he did run [for president]" Fine claimed. "He wanted to run for president as the governor of Florida and not as the former governor of Florida."

"I mean, Rick Scott is our senator," he elaborated. "Marco Rubio is our senator. I don't see either of them going anywhere. And so there's no kind of obvious off ramp for him to go when his term as governor is finished."

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