DeSantis and Trump cross paths at a right-wing rally

Several leading Republican presidential candidates, including former President Donald J. Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, gathered in Philadelphia Friday to rally conservative activists around a shared agenda of restricting transgender rights and restricting how racial and LGBTQ people issues in schools are discussed .

Mr. DeSantis was the first to speak at a rally of the newest powerhouse in social conservative circles, Moms for Liberty, which started as a small group of far-right suburban moms but quickly rose to national influence.

“What we have seen in this country in recent years has awakened the most powerful political force in this country: mama bears,” Mr. DeSantis said to hundreds of people in attendance. “We’ve done so much on these issues in Florida, and I will do all of this as the next president.”

Shortly after he delivered his speech, the Supreme Court gave the conservative movement more victories with two rulings, one striking down President Biden’s program to ease student loan debt and the other upholding a web designer who had refused to provide services for gay marriages.

DeSantis headlined Moms for Liberty’s opening breakfast event, a nod to the formation of the group in his home state in 2021. Its national turnout — it now says it has 275 chapters in 45 states — coincided with the rise of Florida’s governor in right-wing circles while pushing legislation to limit discussions of so-called critical race theory and sexuality and gender in public schools.

Mr. DeSantis’ pitch to social conservatives is about the idea that he, not Mr. Trump, is the most likely to turn their priorities into legislation. The former president, who was scheduled to speak later in the afternoon, introduces Mr. DeSantis wide margin in the polls.

In a 20-minute address to the friendliest crowd, Mr. DeSantis championed Florida legislation that bans gender transition care for minors, prohibits teachers from asking students about their preferred pronouns, and prohibits transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports.

Another Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, former United Nations ambassador and governor of South Carolina, struck a different tone later Friday morning. In the absence of the kind of recent legislative record that Mr. DeSantis can point to, she instead drew on her experiences as a mother: She readily referred to herself as a “mom for freedom” and often called out to her children.

“Mothers care about a lot of things – it’s not just schools,” Ms Haley said. “We care about debt, we care about crime, we care about national security, we care about the border. Mothers care about everything.”

Calling itself a “parental rights group,” Moms for Liberty has built its platform on a host of controversial issues surrounding children — a focus that many on the right believe could help resolve the split factions of the Republican Party in 2024. unite.

The group has opposed public health mandates related to the coronavirus as well as school materials on LGBTQ and race-related topics. Its members regularly protest at school board meetings and have tried to take over. The group has also taken the lead in removing books its members deem inappropriate for K-12 students.

Along the way, Moms for Liberty has drawn backlash. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-wing civil rights organization, has done just that labeled it an extremist groupsaying it “commonly propagates conspiracy theories about public schools trying to indoctrinate and sexualize children with a progressive Marxist curriculum.”

Prior to the group’s conference in Philadelphia, half a dozen scholarly groups criticized the Museum of the American Revolution for allowing Moms for Liberty to hold some of its events there, including its opening reception.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, said Thursday that “we find this group’s beliefs and values ​​as a welcoming and inclusive city problematic.”

Protesters gathered outside the conference venues Thursday night through Friday, gathering at the downtown Marriott hotel where Mr. DeSantis, Ms. Haley and other candidates spoke.

Scheduled for Saturday was a session led by KrisAnne Hall, a former prosecutor and conservative public speaker with past ties to the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia that helped orchestrate the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Sessions at the event bridged a wide range of topics, including research on “dark money infiltration in education” and discussions of the Federalist Papers. But the presidential candidates were the main draw.

Two other Republicans — Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas, and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and activist — were scheduled to speak on Saturday. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic presidential candidate and prominent vaccine skeptic, was scheduled to speak on Sunday but backed out earlier this week, citing a “mandatory family vacation.”