by Reuters: Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will officially enter 2024 US presidential race Over the next week, Trump immediately became Donald Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican nomination and shook up a contest that remained largely one-sided, according to two sources familiar with the decision.
DeSantis will likely file paperwork announcing his candidacy with a donor meeting in Miami on May 25, with a more formal launch the week of May 29, according to one source.
According to a source familiar with the event, the invitation for the May 25 event states that donors will be “put to work,” an apparent nod to DeSantis raising funds. Representatives for DeSantis did not immediately return a request for comment. Former US President Trump has stepped up his political attacks on the Florida governor in recent weeks and maintains a commanding lead in the 2024 Republican primary, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. DeSantis’ insistence earlier this month on staying out of the race until the Florida legislature’s completion of the spring session upset some high-profile Republican donors who wanted him Jump instead of rebuking Trump,
Those attacks have taken a toll on DeSantis’ standing in national polls. But DeSantis and his advisers hope to use the legislature session as a springboard for a campaign announcement and stay true to their timetable.
Republican lawmakers have given DeSantis the appearance of a conservative victory in recent months: He’s expanded the state’s school voucher program, barred the use of public funds in sustainable investment efforts, dismantled diversity programs at public universities, hidden allowed the permit-free carry of weapons and, perhaps most notably, banned nearly all abortions in the state.
DeSantis has helped lay the groundwork for his candidacy. A new political action committee supporting him, Never Back Down, which can raise unlimited funds, is hiring staff in early voting states and running TV ads championing DeSantis and bashing Trump.
DeSantis, 44, was reelected as governor just last year, defeating his Democratic opponent by nearly 20 percentage points.