Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has filed paperwork to run for US presidency, with announcement expected on Twitter
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has officially announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, in a showdown with former supporter Donald Trump over the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
The DeSantis campaign filed a document with the Federal Election Commission confirming his bid for president on Wednesday afternoon, hours before the governor was expected to make a public statement on Twitter. He has long been considered the top contender for the Republican nomination, drawing the ire of former President Donald Trump.
After DeSantis won re-election as Florida governor by the largest margin in 40 years and helped congressional candidates score better than expected on the state’s Republican vote in November, voter sentiment appeared to be shifting toward DeSantis. Santis favored. In fact, a Yahoo/YouGov poll from February had DeSantis leading Trump by 45%-41%. Several high-profile candidates backed by Trump underperformed and lost races in congressional midterm elections.
However, Trump has recovered among Republican voters since he was indicted last month in New York City for falsifying business records. A CNN poll released Wednesday found Trump was the top choice of 53 percent of Republican voters for the party’s 2024 nomination, nearly double DeSantis’ 26 percent. The pair were well ahead of others, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who both received 6 percent support. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate, entered the race Friday.
Trump took credit for electing DeSantis governor of Florida in 2018 and gave his former ally the nickname “Ron mean.” In recent weeks, the former president has accused DeSantis of “unfaithful” and a “RINO (Republican in Nominal) Globalist.”
DeSantis has boosted his country’s profile by sending illegal aliens to Democratic-run cities — drawing more attention to the nation’s border crisis — and attacking Covid-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He also took part in the culture wars, signing bills banning boys from women’s sports and banning critical race theory from being taught in Florida schools.
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Governor refuses to exchange insults with Trump, says, “I’m not going to spend my time trying to discredit other Republicans.” He has said his focus will be on defeating Democratic incumbent Joe Biden. “If I was going to run, I would be running against Biden,” DeSantis said in an interview with Piers Morgan in March.
