DeSantis expected to land the endorsement of influential Iowa evangelical leader in race for GOP nomination

The influential evangelical leader of a top social conservative organization in Iowa endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday.

Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader organization, announced his personal endorsement of DeSantis in an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News’ “Special Report.”

“We need to find somebody who can win in 2024,” Vander Plaats said, pointing to the 2022 midterms, where an anticipated “red wave” never materialized for most of the country. DeSantis, however, won re-election in Florida by a wide margin.

Vander Plaats praised DeSantis as “bold and courageous” as he announced his endorsement, which was widely expected.

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“We’re hopeful that we’re able to secure that endorsement,” DeSantis told reporters hours earlier, during the first of two campaign stops in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP nominating schedule, after Iowa’s lead-off caucuses.

The Florida governor, along with 2024 GOP White House rivals, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, appeared with Vander Plaats on Friday at a Family Leader presidential forum in Des Moines, Iowa.

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“I think that if you saw that Family Leader forum, clearly his folks there gravitated to me. I don’t think there’s any question about that. We have a good relationship,” DeSantis said.

Vander Plaats shared in his Fox News Channel interview that at last Friday’s Thanksgiving Family Forum, he [DeSantis] closed the sale on me.”

“He was very clear about, we need a president who can serve two terms, not one. We don’t need a president that’s going to be a lame duck on day one,” Vander Plaats highlighted.

Former President Donald Trump, the commanding front-runner for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, was invited but declined to attend the forum. Trump also skipped a similar presidential forum hosted by the Family Leader in July.

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Vander Plaats, who has long had a rocky relationship with Trump and who has…