A 15-year-old shakes up New Hampshire with tough questions for Ron DeSantis and other 2024 hopefuls – By Emma Barnett and Alec Hernández (MSNBC) / Sept 1, 2023
Quinn Mitchell has a jarring encounter with DeSantis and his super PAC supporters as he soaks up the 2024 election on the ground in his home state.
Quinn Mitchell has asked Joe Biden about Donald Trump’s impeachment, Chris Christie about his past decision to stand by Trump, and Amy Klobuchar about the Mueller investigation. But no question the New Hampshire 15-year-old has asked has generated a response quite like his query to Ron DeSantis earlier this year.
Mitchell, a high school student and aspiring journalist, has made a hobby of attending presidential campaign events in politics-crazed New Hampshire, going to more than 85 events and meeting more than 35 White House hopefuls in the past two elections. That’s what brought him to a DeSantis event in Hollis on June 27, where he asked the Florida governor a question on a lot of people’s minds.
“Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power — a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold?” Mitchell asked.
DeSantis, after asking Mitchell for his biographical details, turned to what has become a customary answer on the campaign trail: If the 2024 election focuses on events from three years ago, Biden will win re-election, but if Republicans instead focus on the future, then they will take back the White House in 2024. But DeSantis’ decision not to answer Mitchell’s question directly generated headlines, and a week later, when Mitchell saw DeSantis was set to attend a Fourth of July parade in Merrimack, he hoped to follow up with the governor.
