Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will support Florida Gov. Fox News confirmed that sources familiar with planning the event said Ron DeSantis would be the Republican nominee for 2024 over the former President Donald Trump at a Des Moines rally on Monday night.

DeSantis is expected to benefit from the endorsement, as recent polls show that he trails frontrunner Trump by a long shot in Iowa and national surveys.

According to a Facebook account linked to the Florida Governor’s presidential campaign, Reynolds, the popular and two-term GOP governor, will join DeSantis as a special guest at the Des Moines rally.

Fox News has confirmed that the two governors will be collaborating again at a political event on Tuesday in Davenport in eastern Iowa.

Iowa is a key player in the race to the White House. Its caucuses have been the first of the Republican presidential nomination calendar for over 50 years. Reynolds was criticized by Trump for her decision to remain neutral in the race for the nomination of president, in line with other Iowa governors.

Reynolds, who was re-elected to a second-term last year with a convincing majority, had not ruled out a possible endorsement as the Iowa caucuses on January 15 approached.

DeSantis spent the majority of his time and resources on the campaign trail in Iowa over the last couple of months. He has made stops in 87 out of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Trump is the clear frontrunner in the race to be the GOP’s presidential nominee for 2024, as he runs his third consecutive White House campaign. He expanded his lead over his rivals in the spring and summer, as he became the first president or former president to ever be indicted. Trump’s four criminal indictments, including those in Washington, D.C., Fulton County Court in Georgia, and federal court in Washington, D.C., on charges that he attempted to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election, have only increased his popularity among Republican voters.

Des Moines Register was the first to report the news of Reynolds’ endorsement of DeSantis.

According to the Trump campaign, while DeSantis may have received crucial support from Reynolds in Florida, seven Florida state legislators endorsed Trump this past week, including five Republicans who switched their support away from DeSantis.

Trump said Saturday night in Kissimmee that he would win Florida’s primary for a third time. He then called to the podium several Florida legislators who had switched from DeSantis.

DeSantis, DeSantis’ predecessor as governor and former U.S. Senator Rick Scott announced two days ago that he supported Trump. Scott confirmed his choice on Saturday without mentioning DeSantis.

Scott told the crowd, “You may have noticed that I supported President Trump.” The applause was rapturous. “I’m not sure there is any doubt in my mind.” He’s the only candidate who can bring back strength to our country.”

DeSantis, Trump and other Republican candidates are still battling to win over the support of early state governors. New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu is a vocal Trump critic.

Granite State hosts the second and final contest of the Republican Presidential nominating calendar.

Sununu said that he will endorse one of Republican presidential candidates before the New Hampshire primary. Sununu spent an entire day with DeSantis in the past two weeks.

On Thursday, he ran a campaign with the former South Carolina Governor who served two terms. Nikki Haley was later appointed ambassador to the United Nations by the Trump administration. Haley is now in second place behind DeSantis in New Hampshire, her home state and the other contest on the GOP calendar.

Sununu told Fox News Digital in the autumn of this year that “I won’t wait too long.” Sununu flirted with the idea of running for president before announcing his decision to not run. My gut feeling is November. Early December. “Like most voters, I will start to narrow this down, and then I will go.”

When asked about his schedule again two weeks ago, the Governor said: “When I feel like it.”

He added that he is not coy and said “When I am sure everyone will know.”