Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will visit New Hampshire next month to headline a major Republican Party fundraiser, his first visit to the state as he reportedly weighs a run for president in 2024.
DeSantis will speak at the GOP’s annual Amos Tuck Dinner in Manchester April 14. The event — named for Amos Tuck, a founder of the Republican Party in the 1850s in Exeter — is the New Hampshire Republican State Committee’s largest annual fundraiser.
“This will be our biggest and most exciting Amos Tuck Dinner to date,” said Chris Ager, chairman of the state Republican Party.
Tickets for the dinner start at $150. To get a picture with DeSantis at a reception without dinner will cost $500. The party is also selling sponsorships of the dinner at $5,000 apiece.
The announcement of DeSantis’ New Hampshire visit comes on the heels of recent stops at other early voting states in the Republican presidential primary, including Iowa and Nevada last week.
Those states were stops on a promotional tour for DeSantis’ book, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.”
Early 2024 polls show DeSantis running competitively with former President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. Some early New Hampshire polls have shown DeSantis in the lead in the race here.
Gov. Chris Sununu, who is himself considering a presidential run, said last week that if New Hampshire's primary were held now, DeSantis would win. But Sununu has also criticized DeSantis as “trying to outdo Democrats at their own game of being big government.”
DeSantis, like Sununu, is expected to hold off on formalizing any potential run until after this year’s legislative sessions.
