Gov. Ron DeSantis Courts USVI Republicans Ahead of Feb. 8 Caucus By Sian Cobb October 17, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis assured Virgin Islands Republicans Monday that he’ll be ready on day one to appoint conservative judges to the territory’s courts, and would support equal federal benefits for USVI residents, should he be elected president of the United States next November.

DeSantis spoke to a small gathering of party faithful during a 35-minute virtual appearance at a private fundraiser Monday afternoon on St. Thomas. He was the first presidential hopeful to pay the $20,000 fee to qualify for the USVI ballot and the first such candidate to address the people of the Virgin Islands since George H.W. Bush in 1988, said Gordon Ackley, chairman of the V.I. Republican Party.

The local party is hoping to leverage its political influence — the territory has nine delegates — by holding its caucus on Feb. 8, after Iowa and New Hampshire but well ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5, when the greatest number of states hold their primary elections and caucuses. It will also, for the first time, use ranked-choice voting to determine the winner in the GOP race. The candidate that wins over 50 percent will get all nine delegates.

“We might not be able to vote for president in a General Election, but our votes count equally in a primary and a caucus, because a delegate is a delegate, whether it’s a delegate from Iowa or a delegate from the Virgin Islands,” said Dennis Lennox, executive director of the V.I. Republican Party. “And the difference between Iowa and new Hampshire is, they award their delegates proportionately. So, depending on how the math works out, it’s entirely possible that the winner of the third-in-the-nation contest in the Virgin Islands actually gets more delegates than Iowa or New Hampshire,” he said.