A protester stormed the stage during Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ televised town hall in Iowa on Tuesday, briefly interrupting the proceedings while chanting, “No oil money.”
The disrupter was able to unfurl a medium-sized banner in front of the White House hopeful before being quickly ushered off the stage at the Des Moines event moderated by Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
“You know, you live and you learn with these people. Right?” DeSantis quipped amid the commotion. “All right. All right. Well, you guys, that was a mistake. You guys didn’t get that one right.”
The interruption didn’t appear to faze DeSantis, who, as soon as the scene was settled, continued on his train of thought about abortion, attempting to distinguish himself from former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on the issue.
“I think she’s indulged in some of these left wing tropes [about abortion],” DeSantis said of Haley, who has pulled even with or surpassed the Florida governor in several Iowa polls since December.
“She has chastised pro-lifers, saying, you know, ‘You shouldn’t be talking about putting women in prison.’ Nobody’s talking about that,” DeSantis said. “I’ve not met a single pro-lifer that has ever talked about that. That is a trope that the left and the media will use and yet she’s indulged that.”
With less than a week to go before the Jan. 15 caucuses, DeSantis trails Haley in the race for second in the Hawkeye State by a razor-thin 0.2 percentage point margin, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.
Trump, who has refused to debate his GOP primary rivals, maintains a seemingly insurmountable 35.6% advantage in Iowa, according to the poll aggregator.
DeSantis, however, claimed to relish his “underdog” position, saying that he likes “having lower expectations.”
“I’ve answered questions from everyone in all corners of the state,” DeSantis said. “These other candidates, you know, Donald Trump’s not been willing to come and answer your questions. I don’t think Nikki Haley has gotten a fraction of these counties.”
“So, I’ve been here. I’ve done it right. I think that Iowans appreciate that and we’re going to do well, though, I kind of like having lower expectations to be honest with you.”
“I’ve been an underdog my whole life and everything I’ve ever done,” he added.
DeSantis doubled down on his underdog preference in a press conference after the town hall, telling reporters, “You guys are going to prognosticate … I like being underestimated.”
His answer came in response to a question about whether he can win the Florida GOP primary on March 19, where Trump also leads by a wide margin. (NYPost)