DeSantis will compete in the 2024 race NEXT WEEK
Smiling all the way to the White House? Florida Governor DeSantis will be entering the 2024 presidential race NEXT WEEK when footage emerges of him laughing maniacally (before he SUDDENLY quits!)
- The paperwork will be filed on May 25 with the US election authorities
- DeSantis is trailing Donald Trump in most of the nationwide polls ahead of the GOP primary
- He rose to prominence fighting Covid restrictions and his ‘war on wake’
Future presidential candidate Ron DeSantis will formally enter the race for the White House in 2024, the Reuters news agency reported.
Citing two sources close to Florida’s governor, the report said the 44-year-old will file the necessary paperwork to run with US election authorities on May 25.
It takes place at the same time as a fundraising event in Miami for the ex-congressman, putting donors to work.
The Republican legislature has become ex-President Donald Trump’s biggest rival for the GOP nomination; both men were one-time allies during Trump’s stint in the White House.
Reuters, citing sources, said a formal campaign launch will take place the week of May 29 at an undisclosed location. Trump has lashed out at DeSantis in recent weeks, branding him with one of his infamously derogatory nicknames – “Ron Desanctimonious.” .
It comes as a video of DeSantis roaring with laughter has surfaced online as the 2024 hopeful makes a clear effort to loosen up.
The video, which first aired on C-Span, shows the governor talking to a man at a classic car show in Iowa on May 13.
DeSantis, who sometimes seems uncomfortable talking to voters, asks, “I saw you got a 1955 Porsche there. That one is nice. How much is that worth?’
“Ugh, we’re not even going to talk about that,” the man responds. DeSantis was clearly tickled by the comment and threw his head back to give a hearty, open-mouthed laugh.
The video, which first aired on C-Span, shows the hotly debated Republican in conversation with a man who makes a prank that got the governor into trouble
He will have to navigate an ever-widening gap in the polls, with many voter polls showing the ex-commander-in-chief as the runaway favorite to win the Republican primary.
The Sunshine State governor had said he intended to stay out of the presidential race until the final session of the Florida legislature concluded.
DeSantis, a U.S. Navy veteran, rose to national prominence for his staunch resistance to Covid-era restrictions.
He has also waged a so-called “War on Woke,” attacking Disney for criticizing its “Don’t Say Gay” law that banned LGBT education in schools.
The owner of Orlando’s famed Walt Disney World resort has filed a lawsuit against DeSantis after state officials pulled the plug on a development deal for the theme park.
Florida lawmakers then voted to restructure the special district created around Disney World.
It gave DeSantis the authority to appoint members to the district’s board of directors that the movie giant says amount to unlawful state interference in its business affairs.
Former President Trump said his potential presidential election was “played out, outsmarted and embarrassed by Mickey Mouse”.
DeSantis has also signed new laws on the death penalty, banning transgender therapy for minors and abortion in a bid to outflank Trump on the right.
Florida now bans pregnant women from accessing layoffs after six weeks, a move Trump himself criticized as too harsh.
DeSantis was reelected as governor last year, beating his Democratic opponent by nearly 20 percentage points.
Although he is now well behind the 76-year-old real estate magnate, DeSantis initially defeated Trump in the first GOP primary last year.
The winner of a Republican primary would almost certainly run against incumbent Joe Biden.
Only no-hopers Robert F Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, and self-help author Marianne Williamson have declared their intention to run in the Democratic primary.