Casey DeSantis encourages supporters to commit “voter fraud” to help husband win Iowa caucus

Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), told Fox News viewers living outside of Iowa to visit and be “a part of the [state’s] caucus” to help her husband win the first election in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Political opponents criticized her plea since it’s illegal for non-state residents to vote in the election.

The state caucus happens on January 15. Ron DeSantis is currently trailing former President Donald Trump by nearly 30% in state polls.

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He said it was just “colorful” language.

“We’re asking all of these moms and grandmoms to come from wherever it might be, North Carolina, South Carolina, and to descend upon the state of Iowa to be a part of the caucus,” Casey DeSantis said during her and her husband’s Fox News appearance last Friday.

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“You do not have to be a resident of Iowa to be able to participate in the caucus,” she continued. “So moms and grandmas are going to be able to come and be a part and let their voice be heard and support Ron.”

“Casey DeSantis [is] encouraging people to cross a border and vote illegally in Iowa,” University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald wrote in a post on X.

Independent journalist Aaron Rupar posted a video of Casey DeSantis’ Fox News appearance on X, adding, “I just found some election fraud.” Ron DeSantis’ crusade to end election fraud in the state has been has been criticized as a politically motivated way to intimidate voters who make honest mistakes by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The Trump campaign blasted Casey DeSantis’s plea, writing that it strongly condemned such “dirty and illegal tactics and implored voters to be aware of “the DeSantises’ openly stated plot to rig the Caucus through fraud,” it said in a statement.

Soon after Casey DeSantis’s Fox News appearance, the Iowa State Republican Party made a post on X clarifying that only legal state residents are allowed to vote in the caucuses.

Casey DeSantis also issued a post on X, changing her message, “I’m calling on mamas and grandmamas from all over the country to come volunteer in support of Ron DeSantis in the Iowa caucus.”

Earlier in the day, Casey DeSantis released a political ad for her husband in which she accused LGBTQ+ people, their allies, and others of “coming after our children” and praised her husband for “saving” girls’ sports and criminalizing “child mutilation,” offensive terms to refer to bans on trans female athletes and gender-affirming healthcare for minors.