January 19 – 2024 campaign updates | CNN Politics

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis denied Friday that his campaign is conceding New Hampshire, after limited advertising there and his decision to hold several campaign events in South Carolina, which holds its primary weeks after the Granite State.

“We were here the day after the primary, or the caucus in Iowa, and people were actually reporting that I was skipping it when I’m literally here, doing events, just because I did a stopover in South Carolina,” DeSantis said during an interview with Fox News on Friday. 

DeSantis said he thinks former President Donald Trump will win New Hampshire and argued that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will not be competitive in next week’s contest. He went on to defend his campaign’s performance in Iowa as a rationale to continue his bid, despite Trump’s dominance. 

DeSantis also dismissed concerns that he should have waited to run for president in 2028, saying that he would have regretted not challenging the former president. 

“If I had been sitting on the sidelines, and Republicans end up losing in 2024, people then would have said: Oh well, you had the opportunity to do something, and you didn’t,” he said.

Asked about his relationship with Trump, and whether he still intended to support the former president if he wins the GOP nomination, DeSantis said that he would, though he also criticized “some in the party that have made their entire political persona around just kissing Trump’s ring.”