Enter Ron DeSantis.
Florida’s two-term governor officially filed the paperwork to run for president on Wednesday, kicking off his long-awaited showdown with Donald Trump, the man who helped launch his political career but now wants to end it.
DeSantis plans to publicly announce his offer on Wednesday night. He will take the unconventional step of launching his Twitter campaign in conversation with Elon Musk. The billionaire tech mogul has amassed a large conservative following since he bought Twitter and turned it into a more welcoming social media platform for right-wing voices, including those once banned for spreading disinformation.
The discussion will be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is a Musk confidant and a strong DeSantis supporter.
Musk’s involvement in DeSantis’ presidential launch was quietly negotiated for weeks by his inner circle of political advisers, and was first reported by NBC News.
The DeSantis campaign hopes the star power Musk offers will create a momentum to upset the trend lines that in recent months have seen Trump build an early lead in key states across the country.
DeSantis’ rise to national politics
Now that he is formally in the race, DeSantis supporters believe he will be able to quickly recapture the energy he garnered after his landslide re-election victory in November.
DeSantis began amassing a national following in 2020 with his largely hands-off approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued his growth by putting Florida at the forefront of the culture war fights that most concern Americans. conservative base voters.
DeSantis signed several bills into law focused on cracking down on undocumented immigration, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, barring higher education institutions from spending tax dollars on most diversity programs, and most of all , fighting with Disney, one of Florida’s largest employers. about LGBTQ rights.
Those policies, which will form the core of DeSantis’s main platform, drew intense rejection from Democrats and a wide range of supporters, but were overwhelmingly popular with conservatives, many of whom began referring to DeSantis as «Governor.» of the United States». It’s that kind of momentum that supporters believe DeSantis will quickly regain now that he’s officially in the race.
“He still has the momentum of a historic re-election in Florida. Now that he’s finally participating, it’s going to be a reset for this whole campaign,” said Nick Ragone, a St. Louis-based Republican rallymaker who is raising money for DeSantis. “This is going to be a two-person race, and that’s great news for DeSantis. I think the Republican base is really excited to see him enter the race.»
Last week, DeSantis held a conference call with donors and top supporters to explain why he will beat Trump. The call of approximately 25 minutes, which was First reported by the New York TimesHe has focused a lot on his conservative political wins in Tallahassee since taking office.
“He was very vocal about what he did and through the Legislature,” a Republican who was on the call told NBC News. «He touched on a lot of things, but if you did a poll on what people remember about that call, it was his argument about why Trump can’t win.»
go against trump
There’s no question that DeSantis’ entry comes at a pivotal political moment.
For most of 2022, DeSantis was neck-and-neck with Trump in public polls, but since then, the former president has hit DeSantis with near-daily attacks. Additionally, MAGA, Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC, has spent more than $15 million on television ads primarily attacking DeSantis, a huge sum for a candidate who has yet to be formally in the race. That one-two has tarnished some of DeSantis’ shine with the national conservative base.
The steady beat of the drum has hurt DeSantis in most public polls and created the perception that he is entering the presidential race from a position of weakness.
Trump has long claimed credit for DeSantis’ rise in national politics after his 2018 endorsement helped DeSantis beat a more well-known and well-funded Republican opponent. Tensions in the relationship arose during and after Trump’s failed re-election campaign as DeSantis compared his less restrictive handling of the covid pandemic to Trump’s. Although both were in favor of early-stage closures, DeSantis moved to quickly reopen Florida and drew criticism for his opposition to mask mandates.
DeSantis has also not been deeply pleased with Trump’s debunked theories that the 2020 election was stolen from him, though he did campaign last year on behalf of several strident election deniers.
Although Trump has used withering attacks to vindicate his status as front-runner, DeSantis enters the race with some structural advantages.
Never Back Down, a pro-DeSantis super PAC, has already raised more than $30 million and hired staff in battleground states to build a long-term delegate approach to defeating Trump. DeSantis himself has proven to be a powerful fundraiser, raising more than $200 million for his 2022 re-election campaign, the most of any governor in United States history. He’s been a huge draw at Republican events across the country and is preparing a show of force by rallying package providers in Miami to start raising money fast the same day he launches.
“We are going to raise strong dollars for the campaign, that is the goal today. Not the super PAC stuff,» Hal Lambert, who served on Trump’s inaugural committee in 2016 but now supports DeSantis, told NBC News while driving to the Miami event.
Lambert said he met with DeSantis about a month ago, and switching to support him after being a major Trump donor was a «no-brainer.»
«He played baseball in college, served in the military, was stationed in Iraq, served in Congress, so he knows how DC works,» he said. «And he just doesn’t have the same baggage.»
Early state connections
DeSantis spent the first few months of 2023 traveling the country, ostensibly to promote a book and his «Florida Blueprint.» The trips also allowed DeSantis to forge connections with Republican activists in a combination of states that vote early in the primary process and states that send large lists of delegates to the nominating convention. Strong showings in early primary testing grounds like Iowa and New Hampshire are likely to make or break DeSantis’ presidential ambitions.
“This is going around, I think Iowa is so crucial. If the former president wins Iowa and wins big, no one will stop him for the nomination,” said Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of the socially conservative Family Leader and an influential operative of the Iowa Republican Party. “It’s possible that Iowa doesn’t always pick the top winner, but it’s crucial to narrow the field.»
Vander Plaats, who says he’s still friends with Trump but is looking for a new Republican champion, met with DeSantis in Tallahassee and says he really likes the governor but says he’ll also meet with most other Republican candidates before your organization’s meeting. presidential summit in mid-July.
In New Hampshire, DeSantis was the keynote speaker at the party’s annual Amos Tuck Dinner and helped raise a record amount for the state party — almost 10 times what the dinner usually raises. Of that, more than $130,000 was raised directly by DeSantis through his network of donors, something that did not go unnoticed in the context of his upcoming primary battle with Trump.
“In Trump’s seven years as president and not president, he didn’t raise a single dollar,” said a veteran New Hampshire GOP operative. “In one night, DeSantis got us $132,500. That’s a guy who puts his money where his mouth is.»
But many Republicans still aren’t sold on the idea of DeSantis being the one to beat Trump to face President Joe Biden, with at least seven other candidates vying for the Republican nomination and others likely to participate.
The continued expansion of the field is seen as helpful to Trump, whose MAGA political base will likely stick with him no matter what. As a result, the more candidates there are in the mix, the more DeSantis’ share of the vote is eliminated from the Republican primary electorate. Trump has done nothing to downplay the analysis that a big field is good for him. He has praised other GOP primary candidates, most recently welcoming the entry of Sen. Tim Scott, RS.C., earlier this week.
Other governors, including North Dakota’s Doug Burgum, New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu and Virginia’s Glen Youngkin have also shown interest in running. Youngkin drew attention last month when he received a $1 million contribution from billionaire Republican donor Thomas Peterffy, who just days before the contribution said he was reconsidering supporting DeSantis. Politician first reported.
“I think it’s certainly out there. [Youngkin] he’s thought about it and people want him to run,” said a Virginia Republican operative linked to Youngkin’s political operation. «I don’t think DeSantis is the powerhouse he’s supposed to be, and when it’s clear he’s not going to go as the alternative candidate to Trump, he’ll keep talking about expanding the field.»
MAGA, Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC, has also directly made the connection that a growing field of candidates is a sign of DeSantis’ inability to seal the deal as the leading non-Trump candidate.
«Ron DeSantis’ failed shadow campaign has opened the floodgates for career politicians looking to seize the opportunity to raise their profile ahead of the 2028 race,» Taylor Budowich, chief executive of MAGA Inc., said Friday. with Trump, in response to Scott’s question. campaign file. «Tim Scott’s entry and aggressive media buying not only hit DeSantis, but Scott sees the same thing as Youngkin, Sununu, Burgum, Christie and others: The path to second place is open.»