For months, Florida Capitol insiders and Republicans familiar with the governor’s thinking have speculated that a resounding victory in November would strengthen his national bona fides as a top GOP presidential contender — even if his political benefactor, former President Donald Trump, decides to run again.

DeSantis has steadfastly refused to cross Trump in public or suggest he would challenge him in a primary, but in a new interview on the conservative podcast “The Truth with Lisa Boothe” that aired Monday morning, DeSantis made it clear he’s eying his re-election bid as a springboard for something bigger.

“My goal would be, if we win the election really big, people like you who analyze these things are going to say: ‘The days of Florida being a swing state are over. Florida is a red state.’ And I think that’s because of a lot of what we’ve done,” DeSantis said when Boothe, a Fox News contributor, specifically pressed him about his White House ambitions. Boothe didn’t ask whether he would want to run in two years if Trump runs or wait for six years.