Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off his first New Hampshire campaign stop on Thursday as a Republican presidential candidate by lashing at a reporter who asked why he keeps avoiding publicly taking questions from voters at his events.
DeSantis didn’t take questions once again at Thursday’s event in Laconia, New Hampshire, which breaks with a tradition in the state where presidential candidates often engage in extended Q&A sessions with voters, prompting Associated Press reporter Steve Peoples to ask why he won’t take questions from the people attending his campaign events.
“Why not take any questions from voters, governor?” Peoples could be heard asking as DeSantis posed for a photo.
“Governor, how come you’re not taking questions from voters?” he asked again.
As soon as he was done with his photo, DeSantis lashed out at Peoples.
“People are coming up to me, talking to me. What are you talking about? I’m out here working with people. Are you blind? Are you blind?” said the governor.
“I’m not blind, no,” replied Peoples.
“OK, so people are coming up to me,” said DeSantis, “talking to me [about] whatever they want to talk to me about.”
The exchange was captured by ABC News and posted by Jonathan Allen. See it below:
After declining to take audience questions after his first New Hampshire campaign event today, Ron DeSantis lashed out at a reporter for asking him about it while he was chatting with members of the crowd individually.
Here’s the video, via @NBCNews —> pic.twitter.com/Z2WtLy0JNj
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) June 1, 2023
