Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis and his wife Kathy DeSantis speak to supporters during an election vigil at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida on November 8, 2022 .
George Vieira | AFP | Getty Images
florida governor ron desantis Formally filed paperwork Wednesday will launch his 2024 presidential campaign, pitting Republican contenders against the former president donald trump in the race for the Republican nomination.
DeSantis will announce his candidacy himself in a conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter Spaces at 6 p.m. ET Wednesday.
The highly anticipated move marks the culmination of years of chatter surrounding DeSantis, 44, whose resistance to coronavirus-era lockdown rules and willingness to engage in a polarizing cultural fight has quickly made him a Republican darling.
It also intensifies DeSantis’ formal rivalry with Trump, burying their once-close relationship as some in the Republican Party hope to replace the former president as their party’s standard-bearer.
For months, Trump has relentlessly attacked the governor. Trump and his allies have attacked DeSantis’ record, his political ability and even his personality, all while amplifying negative stories about the governor. A pro-Trump PAC even clipped an ad depicting an anecdote of DeSantis eating pudding with him. fingerthe governor has reject.
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Trump’s aggression may have paid off.Polls in potential major fields show DeSantis, once Trump’s closest rival, consistently lost ground For months, even as the governor toured key battlegrounds and accumulated policy wins with his state’s Republican-controlled legislature.
Quinnipiac University polling The governor’s slide was underscored by news released earlier Wednesday: Republican and Republican-leaning voters picked Trump over DeSanne by a margin of more than 2 to 1 (56% to 25%) in the hypothetical primary Tice.The results suggest Trump extended his gains while DeSantis moved from Earlier Quinnipiac survey in late March.
long awaited event
The move is no surprise: DeSantis is even considered a 2024 presidential candidate forward The 2020 election cycle is over.While he has been mostly tight-lipped about his presidential ambitions, in recent months the governor has issued a political memoirhosting events for donors and conservative groups, embarking on a multistate speaking tour and posting campaign style Film Touted his accomplishments in Florida.
Meanwhile, his allies have been working to install a well-funded political campaign It has become the de facto campaign for the governor’s upcoming presidential race.
Never Back Down, the super PAC founded by former Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli, has raised tens of millions of dollars to encourage DeSantis to run for president. A person familiar with the group’s activities confirmed to CNBC that the group expects an overall operating budget of at least $200 million.
The figure, first reported by The New York Times, could include more than $80 million in what DeSantis allies are expected to try to remove from the governor’s old state-level political committee — a controversial transfer Divided campaign finance experts.
A Yale- and Harvard-educated attorney, DeSantis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 and became a founding member of the conservative Freedom Caucus before resigning in 2018 to run for Florida governor.
Trump endorsed DeSantis in that gubernatorial primary, giving DeSantis a big hit in the polls and leading him to cut an ad promoting his family’s endorsement of one of Trump’s campaigns. Series of political slogans and slogans.DeSantis’ closeness to Trump goes beyond his rhetoric, with critics pointing out that the governor’s body language and gestures seemed to Mirror Trump sometimes.
Desantis handily won primary and went on to narrowly beat Democrat Andrew Gillum in the general election.
stark differences
As governor, DeSantis quickly gained national fame for his populist rhetoric and focus on issues that divided society.
DeSantis has pushed faster than other states to lift public health-related lockdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that they hurt Florida’s economy.These and other moves coincided with an influx of new residents into the state, but drew the ire of health experts and locals officialespecially when Covid cases later surge.
DeSantis also caused controversy when he joined Republicans in protesting against the president joe bidenborder policy flight Migrants on a full plane bound for Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, his support for a controversial bill to limit discussion of sex and gender in public schools, dubbed “Don’t Talk Gay” by critics, has turned into an ongoing struggle disney This has been going on for over a year.
Disney, one of Florida’s largest employers, has spoken out against the bill, joining critics who say its vague language could lead to the targeting and marginalization of LGBTQ teachers and children. DeSantis and his allies responded to Disney’s criticism by pointing fingers at Walt Disney World’s longstanding special tax district and vowing to end “corporate kingdom.” Disney has since sued DeSantis and others in federal court, accusing the governor of orchestrating a campaign of political retaliation against the company.
In a population growing but Democrats registered already depraved, DeSantis’ resistance to Covid-safe rules and what he sees as political enemies on the left has paid off enormously. In Florida’s 2022 gubernatorial election, he defeated his Democratic opponent, former Rep. Charlie Crist, by more than 20 points.
This time, he did it with little to no help from Trump.
Polls have consistently shown Trump and DeSantis as by far the two most contending names in the likely Republican primary, though recent surveys have shown Trump standing out.
Trump’s opinion of the governor has soured as DeSantis’ popularity has risen. Shortly after the November midterm elections, Trump wail In “Ron DeSanctimonious,” one of several eccentric nicknames for DeSantis, and “Ron DeSanctus,” It is said“Meatball Ron”.
trump lost to biden, the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots and the poor performance of many of his handpicked candidates in the midterm elections.Yet despite those bruises — and his escalating legal woes, including his indictment in the Manhattan hush money case and finding him guilty of bdsm There is also a case of slander – Trump is the current top choice of the Republican Party for 2024.