With Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) seemingly crashing and burning, Never-Trump Republicans are looking for a new champion.

Never-Trump people ask: who now?

According to The Hill’s Alexander Bolton, Ron DeSantis is not doing well, and everyone knows it. Vin Weber, a familiar Republican name, says the Florida governor is definitely off his game since winning re-election last Midterms.

Former Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said much the same. “Governor DeSantis is in trouble,” he said, saying the Florida governor failed to live up to expectations. Merrill hasn’t endorsed anyone yet but plans to endorse former President Donald J. Trump.

Vin Weber doesn’t want to do that. He insists that the indictments of Trump weaken him, though he knows that Trump has an overwhelming lead in polls.

Bolton quotes (but does not name) other “Republican strategists” as saying DeSantis has had problems beginning with his announcement. He appeared on a Twitter Space, but that Space crashed and burned with feedback squeals and dead air. A smaller Space opened later, and the governor joined that. But other Space participants lambasted the moderator for essentially letting the governor give a scripted, softball interview.

Today, of course, Trump has simple-majority support, or close to that, in polls of the entire Republican field. DeSantis has double-digit support, and no other candidate now in the race comes close to that. Trump’s majority lead means DeSantis could never combine his strength with that of all the rest to overcome Trump’s lead. And at least one candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, says many things the Never-Trump faction would never countenance.

Please, please, Governors, get into the race!

For that reason, many Never-Trump personalities, like Weber and former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), want others to enter the race. Senator Gregg, for example, is practically begging Govs. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) and Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) to jump in and contest the New Hampshire Primary. (They say nothing about Youngkin or Kemp getting into the Iowa Caucuses.) Gregg said Youngkin could take New Hampshire for two reasons:

• New Hampshire voters typically make up their minds very close to Election Day, and:
• Gregg does not foresee “a serious Democratic race” in New Hampshire.

Thus Youngkin would attract independent voters. But that analysis ignores the strongest Democratic challenger to Biden: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.