Iowa’s Bob Vander Plaats endorses DeSantis after $95,000 contribution

Iowa evangelical puts efforts behind DeSantis for 2024 

The Family Leader CEO and Iowa-based evangelical, Bob Vander Plaats, this week threw his endorsement behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, less than 60 days out from the upcoming 2024 caucus in Iowa, scheduled for January 15. The endorsement comes after The DeSantis campaign, along with a super PAC, and another nonprofit group supporting DeSantis paid $95,000 to the Family Leader Foundation, led by Platts, Reuters reported. In exchange for the $95,000 DeSantis received three pages of advertisements in a booklet distributed at a July forum attended by 2,000 Christian conservatives, tickets to the summit, lunch, and an after-dinner event, according to Reuters.

The endorsement comes days after the 2023 Presidential Thanksgiving FAMiLY Forum hosted by The Family Leader in partnership with The Heritage Foundation on Friday, Nov. 17. The forum was coined as an “adult conversation about the future of our nation” by Plaats and included civilized conversation about the upcoming caucus in Iowa and key issues affecting America. Candidates included in the forum included Governor Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the last three remaining candidates aside from Donald Trump. Trump currently holds a commanding lead over all other Republican candidates and a growing lead over President Joe Biden.

Trump took exception to the endorsement of DeSantis over himself, calling Plaats out. Trump responded on Truth Social, saying that Platts is using disinformation and is taking his cues from the Democrats. 

“Bob Vander Plaats, the former High School Accountant from Iowa, will do anything to win, something which he hasn’t done in many years,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He’s more known for scamming Candidates than he is for Victory, but now he’s going around using Disinformation from the Champions of that Art, the Democrats.”

Trump went on to say that he doesn’t trust a thing Plaats says and called him out on the substantial donation from DeSantis. 

Plaats hit back at Trump, calling him a “Chump” and “Lol’ing” on X at Trump and shooting back that his endorsement isn’t for sale and never has been. 

Though Vander Platts’ endorsement is considered important to some candidates, FOX News points out that the last three candidates Platts has endorsed may have won the Iowa caucus but went no further and none of the last three candidates Platts’ has endorsed have went on to win the presidency. 

Bob Vander Plaats Photo by Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons License, Flickr. Trump and DeSantis photos by Shutterstock.