(PatrioticPost.com)- After spending weeks accusing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of being a Jeb Bush puppet, the Trump campaign has hired former Jeb Bush field coordinator Trevor Naglieri as the state director of the campaign’s New Hampshire operations, Politico reported on Tuesday.
Naglieri, who also served as national field director for Senator Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, has occasionally worked for Axiom Strategies, a Republican consulting firm headed by Jeff Roe. Roe recently joined the pro-DeSantis PAC Never Back Down.
Jeb Bush, who was quickly forgotten after his failed bid for the White House in 2016, has been used as a bludgeon in Trump’s ongoing effort to stop the popular Florida governor from entering the 2024 race after Bush recently praised DeSantis as an “effective governor.” Trump and his online allies seized on Bush’s remarks to smear DeSantis as a Jeb Bush puppet.
However, Bush went out of his way to tell Politico’s Florida Playbook in late February that he was “praising” Governor DeSantis, “not endorsing” him.
Several of the potential 2024 GOP candidates have tested the waters by visiting New Hampshire in recent weeks.
On Monday, the only other declared major candidate, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, held a town hall in the Granite State. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie visited New Hampshire this week as well.
Governor DeSantis is scheduled to visit New Hampshire in April as part of his ongoing book tour.
Over the weekend, Axios reported that a Public Opinion Strategies poll of New Hampshire Republicans showed DeSantis and Trump tied at 39 percent in a head-to-head match-up. In a more crowded field of candidates, Trump polled 12 points ahead of DeSantis in the Public Opinion Strategies poll.
The poll also found that DeSantis holds a 20-point advantage over Trump in net favorability among New Hampshire Republicans, 70 percent to 50 percent.
Meanwhile, 48 percent of Granite State Republicans believe DeSantis would be the more electable candidate while 46 percent say the same about Trump.
