President Donald Trump landed in Florida on Friday ahead of a campaign rally in Fort Myers meant to boost Republican candidates in the state, and he was met on the tarmac by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis presented Trump with a commemorative coin as he stepped off Air Force One at Trump International Airport. The governor later showed the coin to reporters, saying he had received it from a friend to give to the president. The coin features an image of a smiling Trump making an obscene gesture alongside the phrase “You missed, b**ches!” — a reference to Trump surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. DeSantis noted the same image has become a popular design on T-shirts sold at Trump rallies.
Asked by a reporter what message he had for voters ahead of the rally, Trump kept it simple.
“Just get out and vote. If they vote, we’re gonna win big,” Trump said.
DeSantis echoed that sentiment, telling reporters turnout would be decisive not only in Florida but in competitive races nationwide. He pointed to shifting voter registration numbers in the state as evidence of Republican momentum.
“I think anytime you run as a first-time candidate, it’s a big state. You got to get known. That just takes time. But if you look, when I ran eight years ago, we had 300K more registered Democrats in this state than Republicans. Today, we have 1.5M more registered Republicans. So I think what the president said is right. If people come out, if our people vote, I think we’ll win, not just in Florida, but some of these other Senate races that are close. If our people show up, we’ll win those Senate races. So it’s all about the turnout, and no one does it better than the president of the United States,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis was also asked why the Florida governor’s race between Byron Donalds and David Jolly remains close. Trump responded that Donalds would be fine.
“He’s going to be in great shape. He’s going to be in great shape,” Trump said.
The Fort Myers rally is part of a broader push by Trump to campaign for Republican candidates and direct campaign funding toward races across the country ahead of upcoming elections.
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