Ron DeSantis runs for president, challenging Trump for 2024 nomination

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis has officially filed his bid for president in 2024.

His organization, “Ron DeSantis for President,” became official on May 24, 2023 at 2:24 p.m. EST.

Later Wednesday evening at 6 p.m., DeSantis will announce his bid with Elon Musk on a live Twitter space.

The governor is holding a Miami event where he is expected to pitch his case for becoming the Republican nominee in 2024 to face off against former President Donald Trump and then, most likely, President Joe Biden.

DeSantis was rumored to be planning a run since he defeated Democrat Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points, around a 17-point swing to the right in just two years.

Around the 2022 midterms was also when Trump kicked off his landmark nickname branding of his “enemies,” DeSantis’ being “Ron DeSanctimonious,” and now having evolved into other names like “Rob” and “DeSanctus.”

The governor’s 2024 campaign announcement springboards off a productive conservative 2023 legislative session, which was host to Florida Republican supermajorities passing policies like a ban on transgender surgeries, permitless carry, a six-week abortion ban, penalizing businesses for admitting children to “adult live performances,” cracking down on the Chinese Communist Party owning farmland and more.

He also enacted a strict crackdown on illegal immigration, human trafficking and fentanyl dealing, along with imposing the death penalty for child rapists.

Read here for a more comprehensive list of priorities passed and signed, or expected to be signed, by the governor.

DeSantis enters the race as the widely predicted greatest rival to Trump’s 2024 prospects, with no other candidates initially expected to present a meaningful challenge to the former president.

In months preceding the 2024 announcement, DeSantis repeatedly hinted at what a presidency with him at the helm would entail, and also subtly differentiated himself from Trump’s four years, ranging from comments on past “drama” to a lack of youthful “energy.”

The governor has been a long supporter and defender of Trump, recently stating that he “enjoyed” supporting the former president until “[Trump] started taking shots at [DeSantis].”

He also recently sounded off on the Trump-Russia collusion narrative in light of Special Counsel John Durham’s report.

The governor called to “clean house” at executive agencies.

DeSantis recently gained a strong slate of state-level GOP lawmaker endorsements in comparison to Trump obtaining a vast majority of the state’s GOP D.C. congressional members.

In the recent lead-up to his 2024 announcement, DeSantis threw shade on the former president in regards to COVID-19 policy, saying “warp speed” cannot be allowed to “trump” informed consent in this country ever again.”

“Operation Warp Speed” was the name of Trump’s enacted plan to hastily produce and approve mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, which Florida now recommends against for multiple groups of people.

Looking ahead, DeSantis’ remarks leading up to the announcement point to some primary points of attack resting on Trump’s policies during the coronavirus pandemic, such as elevating Dr. Anthony Fauci in the White House and fast-tracking the vaccines, along with serving as an alternative to “drama” and administration leaks that could hinder a conservative agenda.

“The approach to COVID was different. I would have fired somebody like Fauci. I think he got way too big for his britches, and I think he did a lot of damage,” DeSantis said in an interview late-March.

“So, the way we run the Government I think is no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board and I think that’s something that’s very important.”

DeSantis’ full 2024 strategy is not fleshed out yet, but NBC News reported DeSantis won’t go “scorched earth against Trump” in his primary challenge.

Here and there, the Florida governor has taken infrequent and low-key shots at the former president, such as Trump’s comments on a six-week abortion ban that was signed by DeSantis or Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” that the governor said “trump[ed] informed consent” when it comes to vaccines.

While it’s early, Trump’s campaign frequently brags of their massive national and state polling lead, in most cases. According to the RealClearPolitics average, Trump is at around 60% support, a 36.9 point lead over DeSantis, who hovers around 20% support before the announcement.

The first debates come up later this summer, and the primaries take place in individual states. First, Iowa Republican members will meet in 2024’s caucuses to give delegates. In 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won 8 delegates, Trump 7 and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., 7. The caucus is an early indicator of how successful a candidate is expected to be.

From there, the first official primary state – where voters go to the polls and choose a candidate – is New Hampshire.

Super Tuesday takes place on March 5, when around a third of all party delegates can be won in a single night.

More primaries will continue to take place across the U.S. after that, with Florida’s being on March 19.

The Republican National Convention will then be held from July 15 to 18, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the party will formally select its nominee for president.