Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to formally announce his long-anticipated presidential campaign on Wednesday in a conversation with Twitter owner Elon Musk, a source confirmed to Spectrum News.
The announcement was first reported byNBC News. Musk seemed to confirm the report by retweeting a Fox News reporter's post on the platform about the event.
The conversation is set to take place on Twitter Spaces, a place on the platform to have live audio conversations.
It was long speculated that DeSantis would run for the countrys highest office on the Republican ticket, but he avoided saying as much at every turn. Now, he will have to outpace the races frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, as he makes a bid to take on President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Trump has attacked DeSantis at rallies, in interviews, and dozens of times on his social media network, Truth Social. In the immediate aftermath of the news of Desantis' impending announcement breaking Tuesday, Trump began posting articles and messages from supporters attacking DeSantis. The Florida governor has not yet commented himself.
"Ron is unelectable," Trump posted on Friday. "His 'campaign' has been a total disaster!"
DeSantis emerged as a key supporter of Trump during his presidency and was endorsed by the then-president during his successful campaign for governor in 2018. Trump has repeatedly said that his endorsement boosted DeSantis to victory.
Now the former allies are at odds, with DeSantis spending the last few years using his office in concert with the Florida legislature to boost his credentials with the Republican partys right-wing and attempt to win over Trump supporters by wading into the so-called culture wars and targeting educators, colleges, LGBTQ Floridians, and migrants with a series of tough laws and restrictions.
He sought to punish one of Floridas largest employers, Disney, for opposing a controversial education law dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Hes signed legislation that makes it easier for schools to ban books, barred teachers from giving lessons on systematic racism and gender identity, and gutted a Florida universitys leadership as part of an effort to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs and, according to his administration, course correct universities missions to align education for citizenship of the constitutional republic.
The governor made several trips over the last few months to key early voting states, including Iowa and New Hampshire, increasing speculation about an impending announcement. He's also visited key battleground states like Ohio and Wisconsin.
DeSantis recently embarked on a multi-nation trip abroad in April that included Israel, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. The trip was announced as a trade mission, but it was perceived as a move to boost his foreign policy credentials. During his time in Israel, he signed a bill that would enhance penalties for expressing anti-Jewish hate messages in his state.
In May, he was asked if the end of Floridas legislative session meant that he would begin to turn his sights to the White House.
At the end of the day, these things will happen in relatively due course," DeSantis said, adding: "I think that so many people just didnt understand that ... you win an election, and you need to do something with what youve done, and that should have been our focus."
"You'll get there one way or another, very soon," he said, adding: "I'm not gonna short-circuit any of the good work that we've done."
Adding fuel to the fire of presidential rumors was a report from last month that DeSantis had launched a presidential exploratory committee, something he quickly denied.
"If theres any announcements, those will come at the appropriate time," he said at the time. "But if anyones telling you that somehow they know this or they know that, thats just inaccurate, because theres not been any decisions made."
DeSantis heads into the race with a pretty substantial war chest. He has access to more than $110 million in campaign funds left over from his gubernatorial run, and some fundraisers he had before his official announcement.
In comparison, Trumps campaign has raised over $18 million since November, and a super PAC has access to $55 million in cash reserves.
The governor also begin the year with a decent showing in the polls. On March 5, the polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight showed that on average, Trump earned 44.8% support among Republican voters, compared to DeSantis 29.6% support. On Tuesday, the disparity had grown to 53.5% for Trump and 20.8% for DeSantis, on average. No other contender was polling above 5.5%.
DeSantis attended Dunedin High School outside Tampa before going to Yale University. He later attended Harvard Law School, where he earned a commission in the U.S. Navy as a Judge Advocate General, or JAG, officer.
He served in Iraq as a legal advisor and earned a Bronze Star and an Iraq Campaign Medal. The future governor later served at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. military base in Cuba where accused terrorists have been held during the post-9/11 wars. At least two detainees have since accused him of observing their force-feeding by U.S. officials.
After his service, he worked as a federal prosecutor before being elected to Congress in 2012. He was elected twice to be Floridas governor, most recently last year.
He joins Trump, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder in the Republican primary race for president. Former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and several other prominent Republican officials have been teasing runs, but have yet to officially announce.
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DeSantis to announce 2024 bid in Twitter chat with Elon Musk - Spectrum News 1