SC voters say they’re intrigued — but not all decided — on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Brooke Kershaw said she “was sold” the moment she received a mailer advertising GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appearance at a South Carolina golf club’s community building Monday evening.

A teacher, she was one of hundreds who walked, drove or rode in golf carts to pack into the Philip T. Glennon Community Center in Tega Cay, where DeSantis ran through a series of talking points during a speech and question and answer session. DeSantis riffed on social issues, education, the size of the federal government and the economy.

FULL SPEECH: Read what DeSantis told voters in Tega Cay, South Carolina

Kershaw, who described herself as someone who usually votes Republican but agrees with Democrats on some issues, said she’s especially passionate about border security and immigration.

She entered the building interested in hearing from DeSantis on LGBTQ+ issues after seeing a small group of protesters along the road to the event with signs saying ,“We say gay.” A person holding a rainbow flag also was removed from the event shortly after DeSantis took the stage, the Associated Press reported.

DeSantis, who has come under fire from LGBTQ+ rights groups for his support of “Don’t Say Gay” laws in Florida and bans on gender-affirming care for transgender children, touted his clashes with the Walt Disney Corporation over the subject at Monday’s event.

During Monday’s address, DeSantis also told the crowd that if elected, he’d declare a state of emergency along the U.S. border with Mexico on his first day in office and support the construction of a wall along the southern border.

Kershaw’s husband, Mark, said he “doesn’t like the current frontrunners” for the 2024 presidential election.

“I want to hear from another option,” he said.

Neighbor Scott Miller said he wanted to see a candidate in person because so far he’s only heard about other Republican candidates — including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott — on the news.

“That’s not enough to really absorb what they’re saying,” he said.

On the fence between DeSantis and Trump

Voters in ruby red Tega Cay will have until February to decide who to back in South Carolina’s “First in the South” primary.

Don Pisal, who voted twice for former President Donald Trump, now calls DeSantis his top choice and says he’s followed the governor “for quite a while.”

“We’d like to hear more on his stance on education, the border wall, America’s position on the national stage and Ukraine,” he said.

DeSantis told the crowd that he doesn’t want to see the U.S. military stuck in a “quagmire” in Ukraine and that he believes relations with China are the most significant foreign policy issues facing the country.

WHY TEGA CAY: A look at why DeSantis chose the Carolina border town

Lauren Howes said after the event that she’s been “on the fence” between DeSantis and Trump.

“This might have just swayed me tonight,” she said, noting she’s especially concerned with border security.

Howes would like to hear from Trump again before casting her ballot, she added.

GOP presidential primary polling

DeSantis has consistently come in second behind Trump in South Carolina polls, as well as in North Carolina and nationally.

But Winthrop political science professor Scott Huffmon, who leads the team behind the Winthrop Poll, told the Observer “there’s room for non-Trump candidates in South Carolina.”

“Whether or not our homegrown candidates are going to move into that territory or whether DeSantis could pick it up remains to be seen,” he said.