DeSantis: Nikki Haley’s ‘surge is more of a media thing’

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to spar over their records the morning after the GOP presidential debate in Tuscaloosa.

The Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary are scheduled to be held in January. Haley and DeSantis are currently within a few points of each other for second place in Iowa. Trump has a 29% lead in Iowa, according to a polling average from Real Clear Politics.

DeSantis called Haley’s recent surge in the polls “a media thing” during a segment on "Fox & Friends" held at Tuscaloosa's Brick & Spoon on Thursday.

“They're spending millions of dollars trying to attack me, so of course we're going to fight back. The surge is more of a media thing,” DeSantis said. “You're not seeing it on the ground with conservative voters. In fact, conservative voters don't support her. I mean, that's just the reality. But people are responsible for their record. She runs saying she's so tough on China. She was the number one governor in South Carolina when she was there of bringing China into her state. We posted the letter on our website where she was saying how great they were to the ambassador, and then the video of her in front of a Chinese flag at this Chinese company in South Carolina, where she says that she works for them now as governor. And so that's just the reality."

"Now she's singing a different tune," he continued. "But notice, she was really bragging about these liberal Wall Street donors who are now supporting her. These are people that supported Hillary Clinton. These are people that have opposed Donald Trump in the past. They will not allow strong policies.”

Haley responded, “We’ve had a 150,000 plus donors that have come in from all 50 states.”

“Ninety-five percent of them are $200 or less but anyone that wants to support us we’re going to take it. I will say this: I beat Joe Biden. You’ve got Donald Trump that’s head-to-head with Joe Biden…on a good day he might be up by two points. I beat Joe Biden by 10 to 13 points. This is about saving our country. This is about governorships up and down the ticket. This is about House seats, Senate seats. This is about winning again and ending the chaos. We have to end the chaos if we’re going to do this,” she added.