In a move that appears to have left some observers shocked, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has decided not to appear at a Turning Point USA event in his home state.

According to Breitbart, the news was first broken by conservative commentator and Turning Point USA contributor Jack Posobiec.

All GOP primary candidates invited

Posobiec announced in a tweet on Monday that DeSantis will not be at Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach this weekend.

Ron DeSantis has officially declined the invitation to attend Turning Point Action this weekend in West Palm Beach

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 10, 2023

Posobiec reinterested that message the following day on the Human Events podcast, nothing that Turning Point USA had invited all of the Republican Party's primary contenders.

Richard Baris discusses DeSantis not attending Turning Point Action conference: "If you can't stand up at a Turning Point event in your OWN state, then I don't know how you're going to handle the pressures of a presidency." @Jackposobiec pic.twitter.com/jtEuhiMSr1

— Human Events (@HumanEvents) July 11, 2023

Confusion over why DeSantis won't show up

Republican National Committee member Tyler Bowyer express bewilderment over the move, saying it could "be a text book lesson on how not to win a Republican Primary."

I can’t really figure out how they believe a winning strategy is to ignore conservatives in a Primary, but maybe for all other Republicans in all future elections this will be a text book lesson on how not to win a Republican Primary. https://t.co/LZZCTHforG

— Tyler Bowyer (@tylerbowyer) July 10, 2023

Conservative activist Mike Cernovich was left scratching his head as well, asking, "Who told DeSantis to snub Turning Point? Is he afraid they’ll boo him? They wouldn’t. What exactly is the “thinking” going on with his brainiac brain trust of big donor funded advisers?"

Who told DeSantis to snub Turning Point? Is he afraid they’ll boo him? They wouldn’t. What exactly is the “thinking” going on with his brainiac brain trust of big donor funded advisers?

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 11, 2023

Most polls show DeSantis badly trailing Trump

However, the Florida governor did have his defenders, including social media personality Cathy Shaslam, who declared, "DeSantis made the right decision."

She argued that "Turning point will only be a Trump convention and he is much better off skipping this and putting his time where it counts."

DeSantis made the right decision. Turning point will only be a Trump convention and he is much better off skipping this and putting his time where it counts.

— Chatty Cathy (@cathyshaslam) July 11, 2023

While DeSantis is widely considered to be former President Donald Trump's strongest challenger, most surveys show him trailing the frontrunner by double digits.