Next week, Florida’s GOP Governor Ron DeSantis will officially join the race for US president, according to media reports that quote two sources who know about the plan. DeSantis is expected to announce his candidacy on May 25, the same day as a fundraising event in Miami.
The source who knew about the May 25 donor meeting said that the invitation for the event asked donors to “work,” which clearly meant collecting funds for DeSantis’ campaign. According to sources, DeSantis will hold a more official launch in the week by May 29.
Trump Versus DeSantis
DeSantis’ growing popularity and fundraising ability among Republicans make him a major challenge for Trump, who has intensified his political attacks on the Florida governor in recent weeks on topics such as Ukraine, Florida’s economy, DeSantis’ social skills and his relations with state lawmakers.
Trump’s political attacks on DeSantis have hurt DeSantis’ position in national surveys. However, DeSantis and his advisers had planned to use the legislature’s session as a catalyst for a campaign announcement and have achieved that.
DeSantis’ decision to wait until the Florida legislature finished its spring session earlier this month had annoyed some prominent Republican donors, who wanted him to enter the race earlier to counter Trump.
His entry to the US presidential race will not only make him Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican nomination, but will also shake things up in a competition which has largely been one-sided so far. However, if Reuters/Ipsos polls are to be believed, former president Donald Trump maintains commanding lead in the 2024 Republican outreach and an undeniable hold in the Republican Party.
DeSantis received a lot of wins from several Republican lawmakers in the past few months who increased the state’s school voucher program, banned the use of public funds for sustainable investing, eliminated diversity programs at public universities, allowed people to carry concealed weapons without a permit and the most important- outlawed all abortions in the state.