©  AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pinning his GOP primary hopes on South Carolina as he presses to pick off support from former President Trump after finishing a distant second in Iowa and polling lowly in New Hampshire.

While DeSantis is holding campaign events on Wednesday in New Hampshire, the next state with a Republican presidential nominating contest, he is prioritizing South Carolina to jumpstart his flagging campaign.

The Palmetto State is much more conservative than New Hampshire and offers DeSantis his next best chance to cut into the former president’s big lead after DeSantis previously staked out Iowa. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is competing against Trump for a win in New Hampshire, with DeSantis a distant third in polling.

The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reported that a DeSantis campaign official confirmed the governor will be in South Carolina this weekend, days ahead of New Hampshire’s Jan. 23 primary, and that most of his campaign staff will be relocating to the Palmetto State. (Vakil also reported on a staff shake-up at the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down — more here.)

State of play: South Carolina is Haley’s home state — she served as governor there from 2011 to 2017 — and she is currently averaging 25 percent support behind Trump’s 54 percent in the Decision Desk HQ/The Hill polling index.

DeSantis is drawing less than 10 percent support in South Carolina, though it’s a closer margin than in New Hampshire, where he has around 6 percent.

Keep in mind: South Carolina’s Feb. 24 primary is a ways away. DeSantis’s early focus on the state shows he’s eager to shift the numbers in Haley’s backyard.

In the meantime, Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands hold their GOP presidential caucuses on Feb. 8. (Nevada is also holding a GOP primary; more on that here.)

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• A Maine judge declined to weigh in on whether former President Trump is disqualified from the state’s ballot under the 14th Amendment pending the Supreme Court‘s review of a similar case out of Colorado.
  
  

• White House chief of staff Jeff Zients called former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) to apologize after a Democratic National Committee spokesperson mocked Hutchinson’s presidential campaign, which the former governor suspended this week.
  
  

• The Supreme Court‘s conservative majority appeared ready to cut back federal agencies’ regulatory powers during a pair of arguments Wednesday concerning the legal doctrine known as Chevron deference. 

© Mattie Neretin

President Biden is meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday to discuss his funding request for Ukraine, Israel, border security and more as Republicans in the House and Senate maintain different approaches to border policy negotiations. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reiterated his insistence that the border policies included in H.R. 2 — restarting the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy and reforming the parole process among them — be part of any border deal. 

It’s unlikely that the deal a bipartisan group of senators and the White House are hashing out will include all tenets of H.R. 2. Parole policy in particular has been a major sticking point.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday the upper chamber will likely take up the funding package next week. 

MORE: Senate Republicans forge ahead on border bill over Speaker Johnson’s opposition

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has risen in New Hampshire polls in recent weeks, and is currently 9 percentage points behind former President Trump in Decision Desk HQ/The Hill’s polling averages.

A memo from Haley’s campaign Monday night, reported by Fox News, said, “The Iowa results and the New Hampshire polls show Donald Trump is more vulnerable than commonly believed.”

How Haley performs in the Jan. 23 primary, and what different outcomes could mean for her bid, are all front-of-mind. We asked experts in the Granite State to weigh in on what a win would look like for Haley:

📣 “I believe it is possible for Ambassador Haley to win here in New Hampshire, but she must win outright and by a healthy margin if she wishes to press on with her challenge to Donald J. Trump. Regardless of the outcome here next Tuesday, I believe this is a one-person race and there isn’t sufficient momentum within the Republican Party electorate to prevent a third Trump nomination. This is Trump’s party and he is the undisputed leader of it.” — Nathan Shrader, associate professor of politics at New England College

📣 “A win for Haley is Jake Tapper saying at 801 pm next Tuesday, ‘New Hampshire is too close to call.'” — Dante Scala, political science professor at the University of New Hampshire

📣 “A win in New Hampshire for Haley requires, at a minimum, getting more votes than Donald Trump. That may sound glib, but I don’t know that there’s any second-place finish that would do what she needs right now: To convince the world and, more importantly, Republican primary voters, that there is a possibility of someone other than Trump being the GOP nominee. The bad news for Haley is that even an outright win in New Hampshire leaves her needing another hundred things to break her way to end up being nominated.” — Christopher Galdieri, politics professor at Saint Anselm College

© AP

The Biden administration will designate the Houthis, an Iranian-backed military group that has been launching attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea, as a Specially Designated Terrorist Group. The Hill’s Laura Kelly walks us through the meaning of the designation here.

MORE OF TODAY’S TOP HEADLINES:

• Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) announced he’ll retire from the House at the end of this term.
  
  

• More than 100 million Americans are facing dangerous wind chills, and parts of the country are confronting ice storms and heavy snow.
  
  

• The Federal Aviation Administration is expanding its investigation into Boeing, which began after a recent midair blowout on a 737 Max 9 aircraft. Related: 4 passengers file new lawsuit against Alaska Airlines, Boeing after midair blowout

   

• Democrat Tom Keen flipped Florida’s state House 35th District in a special election Tuesday, winning 51 percent of the vote.
  
  
• Capt. Geoffry Patterson, commander of the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia’s Blue Crew, was relieved of duty, with the Navy citing a “loss of confidence” in his ability to command.
  
  

• A Collage Group analysis found that multicultural Americans will make up a majority of the U.S. population by 2050.

“An exhibit on addiction sits above Harvard’s Sackler Museum. Yes, those Sacklers.”

“10 years in, the Medicaid expansion is failing the neediest Americans”

2 days until the deadline to fund part of the government.

6 days until the New Hampshire primaries.

Thursday, 9:30 a.m. ET: The House Homeland Security Committee holds a second impeachment hearing for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

You’re all caught up! Stay with TheHill.com for the latest and recommend this newsletter to others: TheHill.com/Evening. See you tomorrow!