Ron DeSantis addresses a crowd while President Donald Trump watches at a rally in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, 2018 – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by jctabb
On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis formally entered the 2024 presidential race through a Twitter event with tech billionaire Elon Musk where he anticipated making his candidacy known to the world.
DeSantis, 44, submitted a declaration of candidacy to the Federal Election Commission. His long-anticipated entry alters the dynamics of the Republican primary race because he is likely to become Donald Trump’s main adversary.
In the main election in November 2024, the nominee will go up against Democratic President Joe Biden.
Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who has 140 million followers on Twitter, claimed that his own appearance will not be seen as an endorsement but rather as evidence of his goal to turn the service into more of a town square.
By late afternoon, Musk was tweeting about the event and it quickly received more than 2 million views. It began at 6 p.m. EDT on Twitter.
A meeting of DeSantis’ top fundraisers will be held on Wednesday at a hotel in Miami where they will begin his fundraising operations.
DeSantis’ main justification for running will probably be that he is the only Republican capable of defeating Biden, who defeated Trump in the 2020 election.
“We must reject the losing-oriented culture that has recently affected our party. At a gathering in Iowa earlier this month, DeSantis declared, “The time for justifications is over.”
Ron DeSantis has traveled the nation in the weeks before his presidential campaign, stopping in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, which will host early nomination contests. He has bragged about his accomplishments as governor of Florida, particularly his conflicts with the federal government on pandemic regulations.
DeSantis’ decision to wait until now to enter the fray has given Trump room to beat him with a series of hits, costing him support in national surveys and irritating some backers who might have wanted DeSantis to enter the fray earlier.
According to records from the Federal Election Commission, a pro-Trump Super PAC called MAGA Inc. has already spent more than $14 million on media attacks on DeSantis, including television commercials.
Allies of DeSantis are also investing money to advance his campaign. During the period of May 5th to May 19th, the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down Super PAC spent $1.4 million on advertisements that were broadcast, according to the advertising tracking company AdImpact.
DeSantis and his advisors were certain that he would hold off on running until the Florida Legislature could provide him with a string of policy triumphs, and legislators have delivered on that promise.
Among other things, he enacted laws that significantly limited the availability of abortions in the state, made it simpler for citizens to carry concealed guns, extended the use of vouchers for students to attend private schools, and stopped financing for diversity initiatives at public colleges.
DeSantis and Walt Disney Co. are still engaged in a heated argument over the latter’s criticism of regulations that forbid the teaching of gender identity notions in public schools. The business has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing DeSantis of using the state’s power as a weapon to retaliate against its operations.
Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, and Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN, are two additional Republicans who have launched candidacies.
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Mike has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. He once owned his own agency and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world.
