another look at the cnn town hall with ron desantis. a lot riding on his ability to connect with voters. turnout he says will be key. nikki haley and chris sununu, who just endorsed her, sit down for an interview tomorrow with dana bash. see it at noon eastern time. first the cnn republican presidential town hall with governor ron desantis, it starts now. ♪

[ applause ] >> good evening. welcome to iowa where in just 34 days, caucus goers here will cast the very first votes of the 2024 presidential race. we are live at grand view university in des moines for cnn's town hall with florida governor ron desantis. i'm jake tapper. right now, the presidential hopefuls are furiously campaigning to win over republicans here in iowa. it's a state that can make or break presidential candidates. governor desantis has visited all 99 of iowa's counties. he won the endorsement of the state's popular governor, kim reynolds. but he is facing steep competition from his rivals, including former president donald trump. tonight's event is about the voters. governor desantis will have the opportunity to answer questions directly from the people in the room on the issues that will help them determine who wins the republican nomination.

i will have questions of my own. this is not an interview. this is a town hall. the audience are voters who plan to participate in the caucuses, registered republicans and those who plan to register as republicans by the time of the caucus. to find tonight's questioners, we reached out to republican-affiliated groups, as well as business groups, farm associations, parent groups, religious groups and conservative advocacy organizations. guests of the desantis campaign and grand view university are in the audience. they will not get to ask questions. we asked everyone here to be respectful to each other and to governor desantis so you have a chance to hear from the candidate. now, please welcome, governor ron desantis. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> good to see you. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> let's get straight to the voters, if we can.

our first question comes from tim bianco. he owns a manufacturing business. he is on the board of directors for the iowa association of business and industry. he says he is a republican and is currently undecided. >> welcome, governor. thank you for your service as a veteran. it's important to recognize you. >> thank you. >> why should my employees trust you to return us to the prosperity they enjoyed under president trump? >> thanks for the question. i hope your business is doing well. i know things are tough right now with a lot of things. they can trust me for a couple reasons. if he look at what we have done in florida, our economy is number one of all 50 states. we have boomed like we never have even in the face of inflation and interest rates, which we have to obviously struggle with, too. our unemployment rate is 60% lower than states like california, which is peer states. the first three years of the trump administration, the

economy is better than it has been. but the last year was mishandled dramatically. shutting down the country was a huge mistake. printing trillions and trillions of dollars was a huge mistake. that set the foundation for the inflation that we see. granted, biden came in and poured gas on the fire. it was reckless that he did trillions. if you look, you have trillions and trillions of dollars, of course you are paying more. you will have inflation when that happens. i'm going to come in and get the inflation down. we will open up energy so that you pay less for gas. we will get the interest rates down so you can do things like afford a home. i think your hard working employees are going to have a friend in the white house. i think we're going to turn this country around. [ applause ] >> governor, tim's question does get to a challenge you have. you have been on the campaign trail. nobody can accuse you of not working for it. trump holds a commanding lead.

what is your strategy to convince iowans like tim to pick you and not trump? >> first of all, iowa voters will choose, not pundits and polls. i'm sick of the polls. haven't we learned that we were supposed to have a red wave in november of 2022. what happens to that? the polls were telling us, hillary clinton had a 99% chance to win the presidency in 2016. that didn't happen. i look at my own re-election. a lot of the polls they put out, they would say i would win by 4% or 5%. i won by 20%. they use the polls for a narrative. we have the best organization anyone has had in iowa. we have tens of thousands of iowans who have committed to caucus for us. you have the opportunity to make this decision. do not let the media choose your candidate. do not let a pundit choose your candidate. choose a candidate that will represent your values and give this country the leadership it deserves. i'm confident i'm that guy.

i'm grateful we have a huge number of iowans who have signed up to support us. we ask all the iowans undecided, come join our team. i will not let you down. >> a few hours ago, zelenskyy was in washington, d.c., in congress and in white house trying to make the case for more u.s. support for ukraine's war against russia. on that topic, i would like to bring in dawn mann. she's undecided as well. >> welcome to des moines. if you had to pick one, which current conflict, ukraine or israel, is more critical for the american people to support with tax dollars and why? >> thanks for the question, dawn. for me, that's an easy answer. it's the state of israel. they are our strongest ally in the middle east. we have a relationship with them that's like no other. they have the world against us. they require the united states to be there to stand with them as a friend.

ukraine has all of europe. these european countries need to start pulling their weight. they don't meet their nato dues. some of them have, poland, finland. but a lot are not. russia is a threat to europe. they need to rise to the occasion, rev up the industrial base and start arming themselves so they can help ukraine and keep russia in a box. israel is a unique country in terms of our relationship. as governor of florida, it's something that when the attacks happened against them, that impacted my state. i had so many people that go back and forth. you had people stranded in israel. they couldn't get back. the state department wasn't helping them. the embassy wasn't helping them. i did an executive order. we scrambled planes. we rescued over 700 people from israel and brought them back to the united states of america. when you are an in an executive position, you need to lead, particularly in crisis situations. we stepped up and helped our friends in israel. we would do that as president of the united states. [ applause ]

>> just to follow on these wars. earlier today, zelenskyy stressed ukraine needs continued u.s. support as never before. iowa republican senator ernst has said, there's no doubt we need to support the ukrainians. would you send support to ukraine as president? >> i think what the republicans in the congress are doing, i think it's the right thing. what they are saying is, you have to defend our own country's borders before you start sending money all across this world. for example, i have supported in the past defensive weapons under trump, because i figured try to keep russia out. that's in our interests. they have spend tens of billions of your tax dollars to subsidize farming in ukraine, to sub sidie other things in ukraine.

from a national security perspective, that open border threatens our country. we have people from all over the world that have gone in. i think what the republicans are saying is, let's get this done. biden will have to compromise. he is not willing to do it. as president, i will do the border on day one. day one, we will declare it a national emergency. [ applause ] i'm sending the military to the southern border. we will stop the invasion. when people are here illegally, they have to be send back. you have to do that. we have people that have come from iran, the middle east, china, russia, you name it. they have come from all over the world illegally. these people don't have our best interests at heart. this is a security threat to us. that is something we have to do. i think that most people that i talk to who are frustrated with some of the money going overseas, they want ukraine to beat russia. we don't like russia. but here is the thing. you gotta take care of your own house first.

the d.c. elite, they ignore the problems affecting the american people. you know why? because it doesn't affect them. that's wrong. >> we will get to the border. there's questions about it here. on the topic of israel's war against hamas and the worsening humanitarian crisis in gaza, president biden said today that israel is losing support for the war globally because of its, quote, indiscriminate bombing of gaza. president biden voiced concerns over members of benjamin netanyahu's cabinet who he says don't support a two-state solution which biden says is the peaceful end of what needs to happen here. do you share president biden's concerns? what's your view? >> i think it's true that the world's coming after israel. it's because of anti-semitism. it's because you have these people at the u.n. who are disgraceful, trying to blame israel. they wouldn't condemn the hamas attack at the united nations. israel gets targeted and singled out more than any other country

in the world. they are the only jewish state in this world. everyone has come gunning for them. the morning of the attack i was in iowa. i said, we stand with israel. we can do that. here is what's going to happen. weeks, months in the future, you are going to see them blaming israel for all of this. you welcome at what may be happening in the gaza strip. if there are civilian casualties, that is hamas' fault. hamas should release the hostages. hamas should unconditionally surrender. israel cannot possibly live with a terrorist group that wants to annihilate their country and kill every jew and usher in a second holocaust. they have every right to defend themselves. in terms of the two-state solution, i don't think you can have a, quote, two-state solution when the arabs will view it -- the palestinian rare r -- arabs will view it as a stepping stone to a destruction.

they never recognized israel's right to exist as a jewish state. i think a lot of people know, they have offered massive concessions in the past. it has been rejected. that's the problem. the people in the gaza strip as well as in fatah, they want that. >> next is a republican who is deciding between you and donald trump. david? >> thank you for your service. welcome to des moines. my question is sort of a two-part question. what are some things different you can do to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the border as well as what actions can the border patrol take that are new? >> david, thanks for joining the national guard. it's important. we have a lot of great people in florida. i think it's going to be rewarding service for you.

what can you do? one, you can change the policy. remain in mexico. you have people that are abusing the asylum. they come, make a bogus asylum claim. then they get a sheet of paper saying, go into the interior of our country and come back in two years for a court date. that is not a deterrent. we will not entertain those claims. they can wait. we need to reform the law so the claims don't happen. we are not letting people in. we will empower states to enforce immigration law. people are coming across the rio grande. texas should be able to deport and send them back. that's a force multiplying for us. i'm going to build the border wall. i remember in 2016, i went to the rallies with donald trump. he said he was going to build the wall and have mexico pay for it. that didn't happen. why didn't it happen? one, i think he got distracted and he didn't do it on day one. two, he didn't utilize the levers of power he had. how do you get mexico to pay for a wall? they are not just going to give

us money. trump said they would do that. people like jake would say, how are you going to do this? you impose fees on the remittances that workers send back to foreign countries. mexico, all over the world. you would raise billions of dollars. put it into constructing the border wall. here is the thing. we as republicans, probably 99%, blame biden for 8 million people coming in illegally. it's been bad for the country. i do, too. here is the thing. if trump had built the border wall, it would have been very difficult for biden to bring in all those many people. that's why you want a wall. it's a physical fact of life that even an open border president would not be able to get around. i will get the job done. the talk is cheap. i'm sick of republicans using this issue every election cycle to try to get donations and to try to tell the people we can do it. we will bring the issue to a conclusion. [ applause ] >> one of the questions i have for you, obviously, the fentanyl

crisis is huge and disastrous and hits people in florida, d.c., iowa. as a way to stop the flow of fentanyl, you promised to shoot drug smugglers stone-cold dead at the border. how is that legal? how you can ensure you are not going to shoot innocent people? >> one, they are invading -- the drug cartels arenvading our country. they are poisoning our people and killing them by the tens of thousands. not only do we have a right as president, you have a responsibility to fight back on behalf of the people of this country. what that means is, we will designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. it's not just willy-nilly saying we will shoot anyone. how do you know? when i was in iraq, and anyone that knows that served there, the al qaeda didn't wear a uniform that said al qaeda. they dressed the same. you don't know if they were civilian or if they had an ied

strapped to their body. you had to make judgments about hostile intent, hostile action. you identify people. we will have intelligence, a lot of things operating in ways that we have never done before. for those who complain about me wanting to lean in on this, are you fine with letting all these people die? one of the things that i have done just as governor and as a candidate, i have met a lot of angel parents. these are parents who have lost kids to fentanyl overdose. really, they are getting poisoned, high school, college, in their 20s. what you find is most of the cases, they are not drug addicts. they are stressed out. someone tells them to take the pill. they take it not thinking it would be fatal. it poisons them. then they die. we had a case in florida, family rented an airbnb. an 18-month-old baby was crawl

on the carpet. there was residue from fentanyl on the carpet that killed the baby. this is happening across the country. i met a fellow a couple months ago. he told me he lost his son from a fentanyl overdose. what really is the salt in the wound is that these people in d.c., they don't care about what's going on. they are not viewing this with a surge of urgency. i can tell you this, i care. i think this is a sense of urgency. i think we need to fight this. it's not just the supply. it's also demand. in florida, we have done an opioid recovery network that's reduced overdose deaths. we are one of the only large states in we had a reduction. i think you fight demand, do treatment and do supply. i am not going to let the drug cartels ruin the lives of the american people any longer. [ applause ] >> this is an issue we care a lot about on my show, too. former congressman from florida, ted deutsche, his nephew died of

this. it was as you described. he was taking an herbal supplement. it happened to be poisoned with fentanyl. one of the problems with trying to crack down on this, as you know i'm sure, is that according to u.s. government data, the majority of fentanyl is smuggled in by american citizens and through legal ports of entry. >> that's what we know about. i know they do that. when you have a wide open border -- we don't know what's coming across the wide open border. there's so many people that don't get interdicted. it's a combination of both. i think not only do we have to worry about the land ports of entry, i'm going to do a maritime task force to interdict the precursor chemicals being brought into mexico. it used to be china would make it and send it. now china is sending the precursor chemicals and the cartels are making the final products. they put fentanyl in candy to market it to young kids. this is really sick stuff. i think we have to have all options on the table.

here is the thing. when they see we're willing to fight back, that's going to make a difference. they have been running all over us. they have been eating our lunch at the border. that changes on january 20, 2025. [ applause ] >> i want to bring in jeanie. she's currently an undecided voter. >> older americans have worked hard to pay into social security. they have earned it and are counting on it to be around for many years to come. how will you protect social security for future generations? >> thanks for the question. as governor of florida, i know a few people on social security. believe me. here is the thing. when some people say it's entitlement, it's not. you have been taxed to pay into it your whole life. people have paid into social security for decades. seniors can know, a promise made is a promise kept. we understand the importance of making sure that you have the benefits, especially when prices

are going up so much. you get a cost of living adjustment. but it's not enough to cover what is actually happening. the groceries have gone up more than 10%. they have gone up 50%, 75%, maybe 100%. promise made, promise kept. congress has taken money out of the social security fund for decades. they used to have surpluses. congress needed more money to do its spending. they take it and spend it. then they write ious. that's the reason why social security is having fiscal challenges. i think if we go in and reduce inflation and interest rates, that is going to make a big difference. cost of living adjustments go down. your benefit will go farther if prices are stable. also, on the overall budget. we are going to be a trillion dollars on interest on the national debt. that's unsustainable. we have to get the interest rates down. we have to get that debt situation better. that could overwhelm everything that we are doing in this country. >> a quick follow on that.

i hear what you are saying about current seniors. but what about for younger people? i shouldn't point at myself anymore. for younger people, ambassador haley says you and president trump aren't being honest in the issue. she says without reforms being made, the program will not have enough money to pay young people like that one right there their full benefits. isn't she right? doesn't social security need some reform? >> what she has said, nikki haley, she has claimed that the retirement age is way, way, way too low. that's what she said. you have a lot of people that have worked hard their whole life. life expectancy is declining. it's tragic but true. look at the demographic trends and say that you would jack it up so that people are not going to be able to have benefits. i don't know why she's saying that. look at the trends. yes, overall, in the long-term, how do you strengthen the

program? you have to have bipartisan agreement. president reagan in the early '80s, he did a commission with greenspan. he had republicans and democrats. they worked through the issues. they agreed. then they moved forward. i think it's the only way you can do it. you can't do this stuff on a party line vote. you are not going to get it done. i'm willing to work with both sides and we got to come up with a solution for the long-term. in the short-term, just know, seniors, this is a priority for me to make sure that you have your benefits. my grandmother lived to 91. social security was her sole source of income. i understand what a lot of people are going through. >> your service has come up a couple times tonight. you are the only veteran running in the republican primary. you served for those who don't know as a navy jag officer in iraq. how did your service shape your foreign policy views, in particular how you might approach sending men and women into harm's way? >> i think it's a great question. having been there and seen what

a lot of our marines are going through, special operators, soldiers, as commander in chief, i hope to never have to put our service members in harm's way. look, i believe in peace through strength. i think if you build up american strength, we will deter conflict in this country. you never know what's going to happen. my pledge to all the active duty, all the veterans, all the family members of active duty is this, i will never put people in harm's way willy-nilly. if we're going to do it, there needs to be a clear objective we're trying to fulfill. we need to send people -- when you send people, they need to have everything they need to be able to accomplish that objective. that objective has to be something in the vital national security interests of our country. when they achieve the objective, we gotta bring them home. we can't have these situations where people are toiling for years and years in these foreign countries with no concrete example of victory.

i hope to never do it. if we need to, we are going to win. i think the lesson of the post 9/11 era was, we got into conflicts and we weren't achieving any clear-cut victories. what are the limits of what the military can do? when i was in iraq, part of what we were trying to do was create a democracy in the middle east. well, you know, nation building doesn't work. social engineering in foreign countries doesn't work. when you have to go to defend this country, you go, you do the job, and you bring our people back home. [ applause ] >> over the weekend, donald trump compared the bravery of those who have served in the military with his decision to debate hillary clinton in 2016 after the "access hollywood" tape came out. you tweeted about it. you seemed offended by it. >> donald trump, when he gets off the teleprompter, you don't know what he is going to say.

back then, he was colorful. but it was america first about the policy. now it's about him. when he is doing this and says that debating hillary clinton after "access hollywood" was like an example of bravery that some general told him was more significant than soldiers who fight and die in war, that is offensive and that's wrong. debating is the minimum a political candidate should do. donald trump has refused to debate throughout this campaign. he doesn't think he owes it to iowans. he doesn't think he owes it to granite staters to show up and debate and answer questions. he doesn't think he should come and answer questions from voters. he will give a speech and leave. he will not visit all 99 counties. nobody is entitled to this nomination. you have to earn this nomination. part of the way you do it is you show up. you answer people's questions. you shake their hands. you show them that you care about the future of their

communities. i care about the future of these communities. i care about the future of the country. i'm not running for me. this is not about my issues. it's about your issues, your family's issues and the future of the country [ applause ] >> we will be back with more from ron desantis. stay with us.

[ applause ] welcome back to iowa and cnn's presidential town hall with governor ron desantis. i have questions for you about health care that people in the audience have. before we get to them, i want to ask you about your family's health situation. as many of you probably already know, you and your wife, who is with us here tonight, have talked on the campaign trail about her breast cancer dy diagnosis. she's in remission. she's good now. [ applause ] what was that experience like for your family? >> well, at the time of the diagnosis, we had a 4-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old. obviously, any of these

diagnoses are tough. when you talk about breast cancer with a mother of young kids, it's especially devastating, because you are thinking about these kids may not have a mother. it was also a situation where my wife -- she has a sense. she felt something. she went to see the doctor. the doctor cleared her. she came back to me and she said, you know, i don't know. i was like, you are fine. for me, if a doctor told me i'm fine, i would never think twice. i would be off to the races. she had a sense. she fought for herself to get a mammogram. when she got it, it came back, unfortunately, with bad news. had she not been willing to do that, who knows what would have ended up happening? when you see somebody that you love go through the chemo and it sucks the life out of you and everything she had to go through, as a husband, i'm doing what i can to be the helping hand and to help with the family and everything. you almost wish i could do a chemo for her so she didn't have

to do it all this time. it was not fun. but i would say she's better than ever now with her health. that's really all that matters. [ applause ] people's prayers were answered. >> let's turn now to chelsea, a graduate student here at grand view. she's studying mental health counseling. she is supporting you. >> hi. i would like to thank you for your service. it's much appreciated. i want to know, what is your stance on the right to life and abortion? what will you do as president to protect or not that right in all 50 states? >> thanks so much for the question. thanks for your support. i'm pro life. i believe in creating a culture of life. i have been able to follow that up in florida by enacting pro life protections to protect unborn that have a heart beat, a detectible heart beat. that's something that the legislature passed and we signed earlier this year. i think one thing in this race that i think is important to

point out is donald trump flip-flopping on the right to life. if you welcome in january of 2020 when he was president, he stood in the march for life and he gave a speech. if you read the speech, he said that all life is a gift from god. he compared the unborn child in the mother's womb to being the image of god. he said it was important that we had protections in law. that's what he was saying in january of 2020. now he has attacked states that have enacted protections like heart beat bills as being a terrible, terrible thing. how do you square that march for life speech with now trashing states that have advanced protections that he claimed to cover? was he not being honest in january of 2020? has he just flipped his position to now what he is saying in 2023? i think that's a huge problem. we know people come at this from

different angles. it's a diverse country. there's a lot of division about it. you should be consistent in your belief, especially on something that's very fundamental. he has not been consistent. i think there's a lot of voters in iowa who care about this, who need to know how he has changed his position. >> i want to ask you about a big story dealing with abortion that's in the news. yesterday, the texas supreme court ruled a pregnant woman in texas could not obtain an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with a agagenetic disorder. her lawyers said carrying the fetus to term could compromise her future fertility and put her life in danger. do you think the law should require her to carry the baby to term? >> we have to approach this with compassion. these are difficult issues. nobody would wish this to happen on anybody. if you are in that situation as a mother, that's an incredibly difficult thing to have to deal with.

what i can tell you is in florida, the florida legislature passed a heart beat bill that contained exceptions for things like rape, incest, life of the mother, fatal fetal defect and victim of human trafficking. i signed that bill. those are difficult indicases. they made a judgment that having those exceptions were things that made sense. i signed legislation that included that. i understand they are very difficult. these things get a lot of press attention. but that's a very small percentage that those exceptions cover. there's a lot of other situations where we have an opportunity to realize really good human potential. we have worked to protect as many lives as we could in florida. [ applause ] >> staying on the topic of health care, you said you will have a better plan to, in your words, supersede and transcend obamacare.

protecting people with pre-existing conditions and expanding medicaid. will your replacement include those provisions? >> in florida, i have signed legislation for pre-existing conditions. i know a lot of other states have done it. it's a significant thing that you want to do. what we are going -- this was a big promise, of course, when donald trump ran in '16 that he was going to repeal obam obamacare. it's not making health care more affordable. it made it more expensive. that was the central claim. it hasn't worked. it's more expensive than ever. i think they failed because they didn't have anything to replace it with. the american people at the time were telling him and telling congress, we know obamacare is flawed, but you have to produce something that's a replacement. what we will focus on is ac access accessibility. we want good health care to be accessible to people. we want affordability. it has to be affordable. we want accountability in the

system. there will be a lot we will do. we will roll out a bigger plan as we get deeper in the system. we are working with experts. if you look, the patient in this system now is at the back of the bus. the doctor is now at the back of the bus. who is at the front? big insurance companies. big pharmaceutical companies. big government bureaucracies. it's an iron triangle that really is a system rather than something that's an individual care. we want to make sure that people are protected. i think your insurance should be portable. the reason the pre-existing condition came is because it was tied to people's jobs. if you lost your job while you were sick, then all of a sudden in the past -- that insurance should be able to go with you. we will work on all those things. the number one thing is affordability and cost. to do that, you will have to upset the apple cart on some of the big entrenched interests. >> when can the voters expect to see your plan? >> we will roll it out.

we are working on it. it's the type of thing where we are putting out the broad strokes. you campaign in poetry. then you govern in prose with that. we are absolutely going to be dealing with insurance. we will be dealing with pharmaceuticals. we will be dealing -- another thing we will deal with, because held -- the biggest health care issue in this country in the last four or five years is covid-19. i'm going to bring a reckoning to those agencies that lied to this country. the cdc, nih, fda, people like fauci. they harmed this country. nobody has been held accountable. we will clean house. for example, here is the thing. fda, they will approve a covid mrna vaccine for six-month-old babies. there's no data to support such a thing for emergency use. the question is, why are they doing that? pharmaceutical companies will make money. where do the people from the fda go to work when they are done in the fda?

they work for big pharma. we will stop the revolving door. >> i want to bring in rob, a former, livestock producer, representative of the iowa soybean association, who is undecided. >> governor, thank you for taking the time. undecided, i'm learning about you. i appreciate that. want to talk a little trade. china remains a vital market for the u.s. soybeans. how do you plan to approach trade relations with china to ensure access to the significant market for our soybean exports while also addressing trade related challenges and ensuring fair competition for american farmers? >> rob, thanks for the question. thanks for what you do. you are the backbone of this country. i learned that being in iowa. we are a big ag state in florida. the way it permeates the culture, it's the bread and but t butter. god bless you.

one, there's other markets in asia apart from china that we don't have adequate access to. i'm going to use leverage to get it. it may not require a trade deal. we have levers over some of the countries that we can pull. we will work to do that to get you more access to that. with respect to china, we are going to re-evaluate and change the relationship. what's happened is, they don't follow the rules. they have eaten our lunch on so many things. we allowed critical things to migrate to china that we need for our national survival. pharmaceuticals, things involving military weaponry, on and on down the line. if we had a crisis, a world war, we will ask china to give us all this stuff? we need to repatriate and reshore some of the key things. that will involve pulling certain levels. it will involve isolating the different areas that we want to bring back. we will have to do tax and regulatory things here to make it viable to be able to do here.

yes, we will work to expand markets for our agriculture. we know it's important. we know you guys can feed the world. we will be doing that in a variety of ways. >> thanks, rob. we will take a quick break. we will be back with more from republican presidential candidate ron desantis.

welcome back. we are in des moines. you are watching cnn's

republican presidential town hall with governor ron desantis. i would like to introduce you to jessica, president and ceo of the iowa restaurant association and the iowa hotel and lodging association. she's a republican, mother of five. she's supporting and has volunteered for nikki haley. >> thank you for being on the debate stage. do you think it's possible for the four candidates who made last wednesday's debate stage to come together and throw your support behind one of you in an effort to create an actual competitor for president trump? >> i appreciate that. i think that's what the iowa caucus is. i think you choose who that person is. i think -- i'm confident it's me. here is the thing. i'm the only one running that can beat trump one on one. why? because the other candidates cannot get enough support from core republicans and traditional conservatives to be able to go. you can't just win with a slice of the party. you have to have broad support.

we will be able to do that going forward. also, i think the reason why i think i shy be the guy, we need a change agent in washington. we don't want somebody that's going to go up there, be part of the establishment, rearrange the deck chairs on the titanic. i want real serious structural change. i want to see term limits for members of congress. i want to see a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. i want a line-item veto for the president. i want to see agencies moved out of washington, d.c. to other parts of the country. [ applause ] i want to see a reduction in the scope of government. that's going to take a leader that has backbone, that's going to be willing to fight for you and has a record of delivering big victories. i'm the only one running who has done 100% of my promises fulfilled in florida. i'm the only one running -- if the look at the folks that are doing the bad policies on the left that's causing the problems in the country, i'm the only one running who has beat these people. we beat the teachers union with school choice.

we beat fauci on covid. i beat the left prosecutors. we beat the dems on election integrity. we have delivered victory after victory. that's what you deserve as the next president of the united states. [ applause ] >> earlier this evening in new hampshire, republican governor chris sununu endorsed nikki haley. i'm wondering how much harder you think that will make your path to victory in new hampshire. >> unlike some people running, if someone doesn't endorse me, i'm not going to trash them. chris is a good guy. he has done a good job. i'm going to continue to say he is good. he is a good campaigner, excellent campaigner. in that sense, i think it's a benefit for her. here is the problem. even a campaigner as good as chris is not going to be able to paper other nikki being an establishment candidate. she's getting funded by liberal democrats from california, like the founder of the linkedin. people on wall street, like the head of jp morgan.

she's getting all these folks that are going to her. guess what? those folks do not want to see conservative change in this country. why are they gravitating to her? her positions on things like saying her first day in office, she's going to demand that everyone produce their name on social media. she said, i want your name. you are going to docs the whole country? conservatives have been singled out. people have been canceled, they lost jobs over this. why would she put our own people under there? i think there's so many problems with her policy positions. she's really reflective of the old failed republican establishment of yesteryear. chris is a great campaigner. i look forward to campaigning with him next fall in new hampshire as the republican nominee. [ applause ] >> i want to bring in tom. the area director to ha health care company. he is supporting you. >> tom you said?

>> yes, tom. >> good evening, governor desantis. ads run in iowa showing you saying you are going to ban fracking while showing a debate performance where you said you were for fracking. can you tell us your position and why you told the women on the video you would ban fracking. >> that has been debunked by liberal media. you have to frack to be able to get the energy. i did a huge energy rollout in september. we are opening it up. federal lands, we will get permitting going. you have to frack. what she's talking about in clippings is the state of florida voters and our constitution said no drilling offshore on our beaches. a lot of people in iowa go to marco island. i think the voters -- it wasn't for global warming. it was because they didn't want to see a spill that would hurt the tourism. they made that. as governor, of course, i have done that. that doesn't mean we're not going to frack throughout this country. you have to frack to be able to

get this done. i think local control in terms of states. if new york city doesn't have to drill in central park, you don't have to drill in places that may not -- you don't want to. we will do it. we are going to have an energy boom in this country. we will be independent. we will be dominant. we will lower gas prices. we will lower energy costs. here is the thing. what biden wants to do with the green new deal, what they're doing in california, they want to increase demand for electrical, like forcing electric vehicles, which i oppose, but at the same time, they are kneecapping reliable energy, oil, gas, and the like. that has blackouts in california. that will lead to blackouts throughout this country. we need reliable energy. when i respond to a hurricane in -- i need oil and gas. >> we will be right, back with more from republican presidential candidate ron desantis. [applause]

first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones

brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. [applause] >> welcome back to cnn's republican presidential town hall with governor ron desantis. we are here in beautiful des

moines. i want to talk to you about a topic -- i don't know how much people out there, outside of iowa know about this. but it is dominating the local news here in iowa. republicans are divided over a new satanic temple holiday display in the state capital building. governor kim reynolds, who has endorsed you, she says it is, quote, absolutely objectionable but, quote, in a free society, the best response to objectionable speech is more speech, unquote. some republicans are calling for it to come down. what do you think? should that display be allowed in the capitol? >> -- and lo and behold, the trump administration gave them approval to be under the irs as a religion. so, that gave them the legal ability to -- so, i don't know what the legislature, what they have analyzed it. but it very well may be because of that ruling under donald trump that they may have had a

legal leg to stand on. my view would be, that's not a religion the founding fathers were trying to create. but i do you think that irs ruling -- i was really surprised to see that they did that. >> so, just -- not correcting you, but just the context of that, as a satanic temple applied for taxes tax exempt status, and the irs granted it in 2019. that doesn't necessarily mean that the gunman supports, but they did grant. it >> no -- eligion, because otherwise he would not have been able to do. it i don't think that was the right decision. we are going to recognize satan as a religion? that is wrong. >> but you think that they should take it out in the capitol? >> yeah, i mean, look -- if they are going to get sued on it, i think you fight that fight. but i think it may be -- and i don't know how the legislature analyzed, it may very well be because that ruling they feel that they may lose. so, i don't know what they did to do it. but, yeah, in florida, i don't think we probably would have had it -- >> let's bring in brooks reynolds. he is cofounder of the blue ribbon bacon festival.

and he brought enough here for everybody tonight. i'm just joking, he did not. he is the ceo of -- southport branches, from des moines, currently undecided. -- >> governor, again, thank you for your time and for spending so much time for us here in iowa. i think this was a question for all iowans. what was your favorite food item at the iowa state fair this year? >> you know, it's funny. pork on a stick. but i did not do it in public, because, they said, if you get a picture of, it's a really bad thing. i tell you one thing, though, on a policy thing -- this prop 12, what is it is doing to the pork producers, help is on the, way my friend. -- california should not be dictating how you are raising hogs and producing pork. >> i want you to meet grant from west des moines. he is a republican who voted for joe biden in 2022. he is currently undecided in the primary, or the caucus. here grant? >> governor desantis, i am 27 years old, and i remember never

remember the country being so deeply divided, and being in a worse position than ever before. my -- to you tonight is, how will you specifically help unite this amazing country? >> thanks, grant. i appreciate that. and look, i think what we have seen is, we have seen fighting, polarization, and for no reason. so, look. there is important issue. see you can count on. we are going to take strong stance. i'm going to deliver big results. as a leader, when you make that decision, that everyone is going to. like -- what i'm not going to do is go out of my way to alienate people for mo no reason. if there's a substantive disagreement, let the chips fall where they may. but i think if you look at trump tweeting and attacking people -- i think that created a division that we didn't need. i think biden, when he gives that speech in front of the things where his fists are they are saying that mob maga it's almost -- we need to aim higher. and we need to deliver results for people. if you disagree with me 50% of

the time, okay. we will hash that out. but i want to work with you on the other 50%. heck, if someone disagrees with me 20% of the time, we can fight on the 80. but you have got to be willing, when the next issue comes up, to be willing to work on the 20. that is just how i am as a leader. and in florida, we had some sort of tough fights. but i have also done some of my policies that got unanimous support, some of the things we have done for conservation. some of the things that we have done to raise teacher salaries. some of the things that we have done to support police officers. so, it can be done. but i do think it requires a leader that is going to appeal to the better angels of our nature. >> [applause] >> who was your favorite democrat in florida? democratic official? not just a guy you know. but who was your favorite democratic official in florida? >> the minute i do that, then, they are all of a sudden -- >> give me one who is in the top ten. >> so, i appointed a fellow

down as sheriff of broward to replace scott israel, who had a great life story. greg tony. we actually also just had a sheriff who is a democrat from st. lucie county, we worked very closely with, rick bradshaw, sheriff of palm beach county. great guy. it shows you the really is not that much difference on some of these issues when you are dealing with it. so, yeah, we do that. i think what happened is the minute i start to go a little national, it was tough for some of the dams to want to work. because they get blow back from their base. and that's just the situation that we find ourselves in a situation. but we do have -- in florida. >> we want to thank ron desantis and obviously casey desantis as well. -- and thanks to all of, you who make a town hall what it. is we really appreciate. it join us tomorrow at nine pm eastern for our -- with vivek ramaswamy. and "cnn newsnight" with abby philli