Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the Republican presidential candidate seen as potentially the strongest party rival to former President Donald Trump, has made his first official campaign trip to the first-in-the-nation primary state, New Hampshire.DeSantis held four town halls on Thursday – in Laconia, Rochester, Salem, and Manchester. Maine’s Total Coverage caught up with him in Rochester.About 150 people filled every seat in the American Legion Post to see and hear the governor present himself as an alternative to Trump as party nominee, but he never mentioned the former president by name, though it was obvious at times to whom he was referring.DeSantis said, "Leadership is not about entertainment. Leadership is not about building a brand." He appropriated an unfulfilled Trump promise.DeSantis said, "We are going to shut the border down; we are going to build a border wall."He repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden.“We know the country is going in the wrong direction. We see it in virtually every indicator,” DeSantis said. "We're going to reverse the disastrous Biden economic policies that are making it harder for people to maintain a standard of living."Narrowly elected by 32,000 votes in 2018, DeSantis won re-election last year by a million-and-a-half votes, with Florida Republicans riding his coattails to capture a super-majority in the state legislature and flipping four U.S. House seats. DeSantis said, "There's not a single solitary Democrat elected to statewide office in the Sunshine State. That's what you call winning."DeSantis emphasized his record delivering sales tax relief, particularly for baby food, cribs, strollers, and diapers; allowing gun owners to openly carry without a permit; raising starting teacher pay from $40,000 to $47,000; offering a $5,000 sign-on bonus to police officers from out-of-state; and defying coronavirus lockdowns.“We were not going to let our state descend into some type of Faucian dystopia where peoples livelihoods were destroyed and their rights were curtailed,” DeSantis said, referring to Anthony Fauci, a former top public health adviser to both the Trump and Biden admibistration during the pandemic. “We choose freedom over Fauciism, and the state of Florida is better off as a result.”DeSantis did not utter the word "abortion" and made no mention of the bill he signed in April to ban abortion in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy.DeSantis spoke for 35 minutes, then chatted on stage for another 35 with his wife, Casey, and a campaign-picked moderator. He briefly mingled but not take any questions from the audience or reporters. Some Republican and Independent voters in attendance described looking for a Trump alternative in 2024.Mark Nice, from Rochester, said, "I've visited Florida, and I'm very impressed with what Governor DeSantis has accomplished."John Knipher, also from Rochester, said he would prefer DeSantis over other Republican candidates now in the race, such as Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and Asa Hutchinson, with Chris Christie and Mike Pence on deck.Knipher said, “I just don’t think they have a chance to win like DeSantis has a chance to win.”Tyler Libby, from Stratham, said, "I think he can win the big one. In the final analysis that's why I'm here."Bernie Casey, a retired doctor from Durham, who also attended Nikki Haley’s first town hall, in Exeter, in February, likes DeSantis, his navy service, his conservatism, and his age, 44.“He’s got more energy for the job. The others have experience, but he’s got great experience,” Casey said. “Right now, he’s my number one man. Maybe Nikki for vice president?”Casey has not closed the door on Trump. He said, "If he gets the nomination, I'm going to support him. I'm never voting for Biden."Pam Belcher, from Eliot, Maine, said she won't vote for Trump again.Belcher said, "I didn't like the drama that he brings and the attacks. It just gets old, got old."