(MAGANews.org) – Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has been teasing the public for months. And now, he’s finally declaring his candidacy for president in 2024.
According to sources close to the situation, the conservative governor will officially proclaim his candidacy for president on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET during a Twitter exchange with Elon Musk.
America is worth the fight… Every. Single. Time. pic.twitter.com/lWNQ3DIXgp
— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis) May 23, 2023
DeSantis’ filing of paperwork with the Federal Election Commission is anticipated to coincide with his announcement and serve as the official start of the Republican presidential campaign.
DeSantis has spent months in the top tier of Republican candidates for the nomination, trailing only former President Donald Trump and ahead of the remaining field of real and likely contestants in almost every GOP primary poll, despite not actively campaigning for the 2024 candidacy.
DeSantis was swiftly targeted by Trump and his allies.
A Trump adviser told Fox News, “Ron DeSantis is perfect for tweeting announcements.” He will avoid social interaction and be shielded from media questions.
🚨BREAKING: @ElonMusk confirms that he will be holding a Twitter Space tomorrow where Ron DeSantis will have “quite an announcement to make”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 23, 2023
DeSantis’ announcement comes just before he meets with influential financial backers this week in Miami.
GOP mega-donor Hal Lambert (@MAGAindex) on his decision to back Governor DeSantis over Donald Trump in 2024. pic.twitter.com/iSvCflNa2C
— Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) May 23, 2023
Following this week’s gathering of significant funders and bundlers, a formal campaign start event will probably be held. Still, the campaign has not provided any information.
Due to the two-term Florida governor’s game-changing decision, DeSantis and Trump now appear engaged in a two-person fistfight.
DeSantis won his first election as governor in 2018 with extensive help from the then-president, who is 44 years DeSantis’ senior and more than three decades younger than Trump.
But as he developed a political reputation that spanned the entire country, he emerged as a unique power.
The governor’s support among conservatives across the nation has increased over the last three years due to his adamant opposition to coronavirus pandemic regulations and his active actions as a cultural warrior taking on the media, businesses, and teachers’ unions.
In order to focus on his reelection as governor, DeSantis consistently downplayed suggestions of a 2024 presidential campaign.
But starting with his reelection victory speech in November, when he easily won by a record-breaking 19 points in Florida, a state that was once a contest, he started to make vague clues about a potential run for the presidency.
He also reaffirmed in speeches that “we’ve got a lot more to do” and “I’ve only just started to fight.”
Before being elected to Congress, DeSantis was a Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps member. He has claimed that his accomplishments as governor have “transformed” Florida from a critical general election battleground “into the nation’s leading red state” and that his state’s political successes can serve as a model for the rest of the country.
A GOP supermajority in Tallahassee helped the governor pass many conservative policy initiatives during the recently concluded legislative session in Florida, including a contentious six-week abortion ban, stricter immigration regulations, limitations on gender and diversity education in schools, and approval of the right to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.
In the 2024 election, DeSantis has a good chance of winning. He’s securely in second place, much ahead of the rest of the field of Republican candidates for the White House who are really running or who are in the running.
The race is officially underway. We’re about to find out how much of a political athlete DeSantis is. Tomorrow’s announcement with Musk is an experiment and Trump’s already attacking. pic.twitter.com/47pK638a9i
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) May 24, 2023
Still, his poll numbers have declined relative to Trump since earlier this year.
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