Florida Governor DeSantis likely to enter US presidential race on May 25
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' rising profile among Republicans and fund-raising prowess most likely makes him the biggest threat to former US president Donald Trump.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will officially enter the 2024 US presidential race next week, according to two sources familiar with the decision.
He will most likely file paperwork declaring his candidacy on May 25 to coincide with a donor meeting in Miami, with a more formal launch the week of May 29, according to a source.
The invitation for the May 25 event stated that donors would be put to “work”, an apparent allusion to raising money for Mr DeSantis, 44, according to a source familiar with the event.
Former US president Donald Trump maintains a commanding lead
Mr DeSantis’ rising profile among Republicans and fund-raising prowess most likely makes him the biggest threat to Trump,
Mr DeSantis’ insistence on staying out of the race until the Florida legislature completed its spring session earlier in May rattled some high-profile Republican donors who had wanted him to jump in sooner rather than later to rebut Trump.
Those attacks have taken a toll on Mr DeSantis’ standing in national polls
But he and his advisers hoped to use the legislature’s session as a springboard to a campaign announcement and have stayed true to their timetable.
Republican lawmakers gave Mr DeSantis a bevy of conservative victories in recent months: They expanded the state’s school voucher programme, prohibited the use of public money in sustainable investing efforts, scrapped diversity programmes at public universities, allowed for the permitless carrying of concealed weapons and, perhaps most notably, banned almost all abortions in the state.
He has had help in readying the ground for his candidacy.
A new political action committee supporting him, Never Back Down, which can raise unlimited funds, has been hiring staff in early voting states and running TV ads
Mr DeSantis was re-elected as governor in 2022, trouncing his Democratic opponent by nearly 20 percentage points. REUTERS
