Republican Florida Rep. Cory Mills on Monday endorsed former President Donald Trump’s third bid for the Oval Office.
Mills, a first-term congressman and Army veteran who deployed to Iraq, told Time Magazine that Trump’s recent indictment in New York would cause the GOP to rally around him. National polls conducted since Trump announced March 18 he would be indicted have consistently shown the former president leading Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by more than 20 points, with several showing him up by more than 30.
“I think that what’s happening in New York is a very unifying event,” Mills told Time Magazine. “We need to stop the infighting and come together and unify. And I think right now the person that we need to be unifying behind is President Trump.” (RELATED: Republican Rep Passes Out Commemorative Grenades To New Colleagues)
Trump snags another endorsement from a Florida congressmen. Cory Mills is a freshman rep who got to the House at least in part thanks to DeSantis’s aggressive gerrymander that made his Orlando seat much more Republican. pic.twitter.com/RAYs7dc3XJ
— Jacob Rubashkin (@JacobRubashkin) April 10, 2023
Mills is the fourth member of Florida’s congressional delegation to endorse Trump, joining Reps. Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, and Anna Paulina Luna. None of the state’s 22 congressional Republicans have endorsed DeSantis, although Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky have urged the governor to seek the presidency.
Mills defeated state Rep. Anthony Sabatini by 15 points in a hard-fought midterm primary that featured endorsements from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Gaetz. Trump stayed out of the race, although the National Republican Congressional Committee gave $5,000 to Mills and the Kevin McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund chipped in $10,000.
National polls have shown Trump with a sizable lead over DeSantis, although the two are running closer in key states. Trump leads DeSantis by eight points in Iowa, a recent JL Partners survey found, and by 13 in New Hampshire.