DeSantis vows to debate 'two empty podiums' after Iowa loss

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday vowed to debate "two empty podiums"  in New Hampshire after placing a distant second in the Iowa Caucus on Monday.

DeSantis, who invested heavily in the Hawkeye State, earned 21.2% support in the Caucus, according to the Associated Press, trailing former President Donald Trump's 51.0%, and narrowly edging out former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who earned 19.1% support.

"Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions such as how she got rich off Boeing after giving them millions in taxpayer handouts as governor of South Carolina," DeSantis posted. "The reality is that she is not running for the nomination, she’s running to be Trump’s VP. I won't snub New Hampshire voters like both Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, and plan to honor my commitments. I look forward to debating two empty podiums in the Granite State this week."

Both ABC News and CNN had planned to host primary debates ahead of the Jan. 23 New Hampshire contest, though Haley has since suggested she will attend neither. In the aftermath of the Caucus, Haley insisted her next debate would either be with Trump or President Joe Biden, prompting DeSantis to suggest she was afraid to debate him again ahead of next week's New Hampshire primary.

"We’ve had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it," Haley tweeted.

Trump, for his part, has not appeared in any primary debates, citing his polling lead. The New Hampshire primary is slated for next Tuesday and polling data suggests the Florida governor is poised to earn single-digit support in that contest.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.