"Stand your ground. Stand firm. Don't back down. We can do this," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported DeSantis on Friday throughout a downtown Pittsburgh rally for GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. "I'm going to be working to keep the state of Florida free, and you guys have an opportunity to make Pennsylvania free."
According to The Hill, DeSantis specifically targeted "woke ideology" and called on Pennsylvania residents to push back, like he has in Florida.
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"I think in Florida — and we need this to be true in Pennsylvania, around the country — we can't just stand idly by while woke ideology ravages every institution in our society," The Hill reported he announced. "We must fight the woke in our schools. We must fight the woke in our businesses. We must fight the woke in government agencies. We can never ever surrender to woke ideology. And I'll tell you this, the state of Florida is where woke goes to die."
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After his stop in Pittsburgh, DeSantis was scheduled to attend a rally for Ohio GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Youngstown.
According to The Hill, the swing Friday through two key battleground states is feeding speculation that DeSantis, who is running for a second term as governor in the Sunshine State this November, may be eyeing a presidential attempt in 2024 and possibly going head-to-head with former President Donald Trump, should he run again.
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The New York Times reported Friday that the sojourn to Pittsburgh and Youngstown could be an effort to "wrest" control of the Republican Party away from Trump, who has not yet declared his intentions for 2024.
"This extreme agenda by the Democrats, we're just sick and tired of it. We say no more," Mr. Mastriano said. "The Democrats and their acolytes in the media have nothing to run on — so they revert to name calling, right? We're not falling for it — not anymore."
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To Democrats like Mr. Davis, it's not name calling, yet pointing out the reality of Mr. Mastriano's actions and rhetoric. Mr. Davis specifically hit Mr. Mastriano on his association with Gab, the social media platform deemed a "haven for extremists, conspiracy theorists and misinformation" by the Anti-Defamation League.
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"This is who he wants supporting him — he's empowering fellow extremists," Mr. Davis announced from a podium near Point State Park earlier in the day, across the street from the Wyndham. "We know right here in Pittsburgh that hate speech begets violence."
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