Ron DeSantis has been elected.
Wednesday, the two-term Florida Governor officially submitted the paperwork for him to run for President. This marked the beginning of his highly anticipated showdown with Donald Trump – the man who made his political career and now wants to put an end to it.
DeSantis intends to announce his candidacy publicly Wednesday evening. He will launch his campaign in an unconventional way by launching it on Twitter during a conversation between Elon Musk and himself. Since buying Twitter, the billionaire tech mogul gathered a large conservative following. This includes those who had been banned from Twitter for spreading misinformation.
David Sacks will moderate the discussion. He is a tech entrepreneur and a strong supporter of DeSantis.
NBC News was the first to report on Musk’s involvement in DeSantis’ presidential launch.
DeSantis hopes that Musk’s star power will be a catalyst for a change in the trend that has seen Trump gain an early lead in several states in the United States in the past few months.
DeSantis’ rise to national politics
DeSantis’ supporters think that now that he has officially entered the race, he can quickly regain the energy and enthusiasm he gained after his sweeping victory in November.
DeSantis built a national audience in 2020 with his hands-off approach towards the Covid pandemic. He continued to grow by placing Florida at the forefront of the culture battles that conservative base voter care most about.
DeSantis has signed several bills aimed at cracking down undocumented immigrants, banning gender affirming care for minors and prohibiting higher-education institutions from spending taxpayer dollars on diversity programs. Most notably, is fighting Disney over LGBTQ rights.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives to speak at an event in Doral, Fla., March 1, 2023.
Scott McIntyre / The New York Times via Redux file
DeSantis is expected to quickly gain momentum now that he has officially entered the race.
“He has still got momentum from an historic reelection in Florida.” Nick Ragone is a Republican bundler in St. Louis who is raising funds for DeSantis. This is going to be two-person race and that’s good news for DeSantis. I think that the GOP base will be very excited to have him in the race.
DeSantis held a conference with top donors and supporters last week to explain why he believes he can beat Trump. The 25-minute conference call, reported first by The New York Times focused on the conservative policies that DeSantis has implemented in Tallahassee after taking office.
A Republican on the call said to NBC News, “He talked a lot about what he accomplished and how he did it.” He touched on many topics, but if people were asked to recall what they remembered from the call, his argument about why Trump couldn’t win, would be their answer.
Standing up to Trump
DeSantis is entering the political scene at a crucial moment.
DeSantis and Trump were neck-and-neck for most of the last year in public polls, but since then, Trump has attacked DeSantis almost daily. MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump superPAC, spent $15 million on TV ads aimed at attacking DeSantis. This is a large sum of money for a candidate that hasn’t yet officially entered the race. This one-two punch has dimmed some of DeSantis’ shine among the conservative base in America.
DeSantis has been hurt in the majority of public polls and there is a perception that he entered the presidential race from a weak position.
Trump has been credited for DeSantis’ rise in national politics since his 2018 endorsement, which helped DeSantis defeat a more well-known and better-financed Republican opponent. DeSantis’ comparison of Trump’s less restrictive approach to the Covid pandemic and DeSantis’ less restrictive management led to tensions between the two during and after Trump’s unsuccessful reelection campaign. DeSantis, who initially favored lockdowns as well, moved to quickly reopen Florida. He also received criticism for his opposition of mask mandates.
DeSantis has also not embraced Trump’s discredited theories that the 2020 elections were stolen from him. He did, however, campaign last year in support of several strident election deniers.
DeSantis has some advantages despite Trump’s ferocious attacks that have helped him establish himself as the frontrunner.
Never Back Down, an anti-Trump super PAC has raised over $30 million already and hired staff to help build a long haul delegate strategy to defeat Trump. DeSantis has been a strong fundraiser himself, raising more than $200m for his re-election in 2022, which is the highest amount raised by a governor in U.S. History. He is a popular figure at Republican events all over the country. Now, he’s preparing to make a big show by gathering bundlers from Miami on the day of his launch.
Today, the goal is to raise hard dollars for the campaign. Hal Lambert, a former member of the Trump inaugural committee who is now backing DeSantis told NBC News that he did not want to deal with super PACs. He was on his way to the Miami event.
Lambert told reporters that he had met DeSantis a little over a month before, and that switching from being a big Trump donor to supporting him was “a no-brainer.”
He said, “He served in the military and was stationed at Iraq. He also served in Congress so he understands how D.C. functions.” “He just doesn’t have the same baggage.”
Early State Connections
DeSantis spent the first few months of the year travelling across the United States, ostensibly in order to promote his book and “Florida Blueprint.” He also used the trips to establish connections with GOP activists from states that have early voting in the primary and send large delegations to the convention. DeSantis will likely be judged on his performance in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
This time, Iowa is crucial. Bob Vander Plaats is the president and CEO of Family Leader and an influential GOP Iowa activist. “Iowa may not always determine the winner of the primary, but it’s crucial in narrowing down the field.”
Vander Plaats says that he still has a good relationship with Trump, but he’s looking for another Republican candidate to support. He met DeSantis at Tallahassee, and he says that he likes him a lot. However, he also says he will be meeting with other Republican candidates before his organization’s presidential summit in mid-July.
DeSantis, the keynote speaker for the annual Amos Tuck party dinner in New Hampshire, helped raise almost 10 times more money than the usual dinner brings in. DeSantis raised more than $130,000 of that total through his network of donors, which was not overlooked in light his upcoming primary fight with Trump.
A veteran New Hampshire GOP official said, “In Trump’s 7 years as president and non-president, he raised 0 dollars.” DeSantis raised $132,500 in one night. This is a man who is willing to put his money where his words are.”
At least seven other candidates are vying for nomination in the GOP and more may jump into the race.
Trump will benefit from the continued expansion of this field, as his MAGA base is likely going to support him regardless. DeSantis will lose more of his Republican primary vote as more candidates join the race. Trump has not disputed the analysis that a large field of candidates is in his favor. He has also praised the other GOP candidates. Most recently, he welcomed Sen. Tim Scott’s entry earlier this week.
Glen Youngkin, the Virginia governor, and Doug Burgum of North Dakota have all expressed interest in running. Youngkin received attention when he received $1 million from billionaire GOP contributor Thomas Peterffy. Just days before making the donation, Peterffy had said that he would reconsider supporting DeSantis. Politico reported.
“It’s out there, he (Youngkin) has thought about it. People want him to run,” a Virginia Republican with ties to Youngkin’s political operation said. “I don’t think DeSantis was the powerhouse that he had been made out to appear to be. As it becomes apparent he will not run away as the alternative to Trump, talk about the field growing.”
MAGA Inc. (the pro-Trump super PAC) has also made the direct connection that a growing number of candidates is a signal of DeSantis inability to close the deal as the leading non-Trump contender.
Taylor Budowich of Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. said in response to Scott’s campaign filing that “Ron DeSantis’ failed shadow campaign opened the floodgates to career politicians who are looking to increase their profile before the 2028 race.” Tim Scott’s entry, and the aggressive media purchase doesn’t just kneecap DeSantis. Scott sees what Youngkin, Sununu and Burgum and Christie do: that the road to second place is open.
