Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis unveiled his energy policy in Midland, Texas on Wednesday. He is spending several days doing fundraisers in the Lone Star State this week.

Texas Republican voters like DeSantis. He has a history of raising money for county Republican parties in Harris County (Houston) and in Dallas County. In Houston, his appearance at the annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner, a major fundraiser, broke records. He helped raise $1M and there was record attendance. He was also well-received in Dallas.

DeSantis went to Midland to talk to energy industry workers and members. He stressed the importance of domestic energy production and independence. Joe Biden has destroyed American independence achieved during the Trump administration. On his first days in office, he stopped the Keystone XL pipeline and continues to shut down oil and gas lease sales and drilling. It’s a national security issue, as well as an economic issue but Joe Biden understands nothing except kowtowing to the most extreme in his political party. He’s all-in with the keep-it-in-the-ground whackos. Biden has depleted the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level in 40 years, all in hopes of lowering the high cost of filling up your vehicle at the gas pump by a couple of cents per gallon. And he has to go hat in hand to beg foreign dictators for oil. Biden’s America, y’all.

One analyst said America is “playing with fire” over the low reserve. Nothing to see here, just move along.

Midland over Moscow.

The Marcellus over the Mullahs.

The Bakken over Beijing.

That will be our energy policy when I’m President.

We will reignite American energy dominance, save the American automobile, and assure American energy security. pic.twitter.com/0wv2oQKoin

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) September 20, 2023

DeSantis pledged to end Biden’s climate change agenda and get the price of gas back to $2 per gallon.

His plan, dubbed the “Freedom to Fuel” plan, consists of six major tenets, including restoring U.S. energy dominance, “saving” the U.S. automobile industry, and reforming the permitting process.

“I will ensure that this country does not have to rely on hostile nations for its energy needs ever again,” DeSantis said during a speech in Midland, Texas, an oil-rich town in the Permian Basin, which accounts for roughly 40% of all U.S. oil production.

He also pledged to restore the U.S. to “energy dominance,” including increasing crude, gas, coal, and uranium production activities on federal lands.

DeSantis said he would unleash U.S. fossil fuel production and lower gas prices to $2 per gallon. “We will unleash American energy dominance as a way to stop inflation and achieve $2 gas in 2025,” he said.

DeSantis promised to bring back oil and gas exploration and production, as well as revitalizing the nation’s nuclear sector.

So, DeSantis is raising money in Texas in order to do a big push in Iowa over the next 30 days. There are fundraisers planned in Houston, San Antonio, Waco, Tyler and Dallas through Friday.

Texas donors have already been huge contributors to the DeSantis campaign. An aggressive fundraising push through the state in June helped DeSantis raise over $2 million in just the few weeks after he announced his candidacy.

Public polls in Iowa show DeSantis is far behind Trump in the first-in-the-nation primary, set for Jan. 15. But DeSantis’s campaign has promised a deep investment in Iowa over the next 30 days to build momentum, much in the same way U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz did in 2016 when he won the Iowa Caucus over Trump.

The New York Times reported last month that DeSantis political strategist Jeff Roe, who worked on Cruz’s campaign, told donors they are in a critical stretch where they need big money over 60 days to beat Trump and separate from other rivals.

“We need to do this now. We’re making a move now,” Roe told the donors, according to the Times.

DeSantis needs to do something to shake things up in the primary. He is still way behind Trump in polling, as are the others, and it looks like Nikki Haley is now number two behind Trump in South Carolina, not DeSantis. He is in 5th place in New Hampshire. Yikes.

I know nothing matters with the polling but things will begin to clarify quickly when primaries begin. Until then, DeSantis has to have a stellar performance in the RNC debates and keep his ground game in early primary states going strong.