Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ruled out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a potential running mate, although he would consider the Democratic presidential hopeful for a health position in his administration if elected president.
“If you’re president, stick him on the FDA if he'd be willing to serve, or stick him on CDC,” Mr. DeSantis said, referring to the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Both presidential hopefuls share a similar view on how Dr. Fauci should be held accountable. During the interview, Mr. DeSantis emphatically said “yes” when asked if he would prosecute Dr. Fauci if elected, before adding that the former director “is guilty of lying before Congress.”
Running Mate
Mr. DeSantis also dismissed the idea that Mr. Kennedy could potentially be his running mate, saying he “is more liberal.”“In terms of being veep, there’s 70 percent of the issues that he may be averse to our base on; that just creates an issue,” Mr. DeSantis added.
On July 12, Mr. Kennedy wrote on Twitter that “Climate change is being used to control us through fear,” while sharing a 106-second campaign video declaring his position on the environment.
“My approach to energy is using free markets and not top-down control,” Mr. Kennedy said in the video. “We can recover what we had, but we just have to stay out of fear because that is the weapon of tyrants.”
Mr. DeSantis said he would want a running mate who can appeal to his supporters.
“I just think at the end of the day, you know, you need somebody that’s going to reflect the values of the broad coalition. Yes, the medical stuff, I’m very good on that. So that does appeal to me. But there’s a whole host of other things that he’d probably be out of step with,” the governor said.
Earlier this month, Mr. DeSantis said he would consider Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds as a potential running mate, saying she is “one of the top public servants in America.”
‘Pro-life Americans’
Mr. DeSantis’s praise for Mr. Kennedy was criticized by one of his GOP opponents.“When I am President, I will only consider Pro-Life Americans to lead FDA, CDC, or HHS. To be clear, pro-abortion Democrats like RFK, Jr. would not even make the list,” Mr. Pence wrote.
Both Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Pence trail former President Donald Trump by a large margin, according to the latest poll from McLaughlin & Associates. Among the 452 respondents surveyed between July 19 and July 24, 52 percent said they would vote for Mr. Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Mr. DeSantis finished second with 13 percent, followed by Vivek Ramaswamy with 8 percent, and Mr. Pence with 5 percent.
The poll also found President Joe Biden in the lead with 65 percent of support, while Mr. Kennedy finished a distant second with 13 percent of support.
