JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’s launch of his long-anticipated bid for the White House is poised to shake up the 2024 GOP primary field that has been dominated by former President Donald Trump.
Mr. DeSantis, 44, plans to make his presidential campaign announcement Wednesday evening in a live event on Twitter hosted by the social media platform’s owner, Elon Musk. The Republican governor’s official entry into the race will position him as the most significant threat to Mr. Trump’s quest for a third GOP nomination for president.
Mr. Trump, 76, leads Mr. DeSantis nationally by an average of 37 points but polls in early primary voting states that will play a major role in determining the nominee, show a closer race between the two candidates.
Mr. DeSantis is the only candidate other than the former president to consistently earn double-digit support in national and state polls and he is considered by many to be the leading alternative for a large swath of voters seeking an other-than-Trump Republican candidate.
Mr. DeSantis will launch his campaign as the most well-funded of the candidates with a $110 million war chest. By comparison, Mr. Trump’s Save America Pac had $85 million on hand in April.
Mr. Trump’s campaign team on Tuesday reacted to the news of their leading opponent’s looming announcement by blasting out an opinion piece by conservative commentator Wayne Root that urged Mr. DeSantis to “please stand down for the good of the GOP and America.”
A Trump campaign spokeswoman said Mr. DeSantis’s announcement on Twitter is “perfect,” because “he doesn’t have to interact with people and the media can’t ask him any questions.”
A spokeswoman for the Trump-aligned political action committee Make America Great Again Inc. called the Twitter announcement “one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history.” She also jabbed Mr. DeSantis’s planned meeting later this week with megadonors at the “uber elite” Four Seasons resort in Miami.
Mr. DeSantis has ignored the former president’s efforts to keep him out of the race and has avoided responding to his frequent attacks, instead taking the occasional, subtle swing at Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump has labeled the Florida governor “Ron DeSanctimonious” among other derogatory nicknames. He said that his influential endorsement was the only reason Mr. DeSantis won the governor’s race in 2018. Mr. Trump also accused Mr. DeSantis of inflating his successes in the Sunshine State, where Mr. Trump lives in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
Mr. DeSantis, who won re-election in November by nearly 20 points without Mr. Trump’s endorsement, has attacked his opponent indirectly. He most recently jabbed the Trump administration’s efforts under “Operation Warp Speed” to quickly ramp up production of the COVID-19 vaccine that many in the GOP base now oppose because the shots were mandated in many instances and were questioned over safety and efficacy.
“We can never allow ‘Warp Speed’ to trump informed consent in this country ever again,” Mr. DeSantis told the conservatives Florida Family Policy Council on Saturday.
Mr. DeSantis enters the GOP race as a relative giant in a growing field of non-Trump candidates who have so far failed to gain any significant traction in the polls.
Mr. DeSantis is averaging about 20% in national GOP primary polls, according to an average of recent polls by RealClearPolitics, where he has garnered up to 25% in the past month. His support is dwarfed by Mr.Trump who averages 56% of GOP primary support.
On Monday, Sen. Tim Scott, 57, of South Carolina, announced that he was seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
Mr. Scott, along with fellow Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., is polling in the low single digits, as is former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, 72, who launched his bid in April, and several other announced and prospective candidates. Former Vice President Mike Pence, 63, who has not yet announced he’ll run, is polling at less than 6%.
Sources close to the DeSantis campaign told The Washington Times Mr. DeSantis and his team are plotting a state-by-state strategy they believe can win the majority of delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. Mr. DeSantis has visited the early primary and caucus states in recent weeks, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, promoting his successful record as Florida’s governor and touting his ability to win in a general election.
Mr. DeSantis has carefully promoted Florida’s six-week ban on abortions, which he recently signed into law, and bans on LGBTQ curriculum in public schools. The two issues push him to the right of Mr. Trump and could help him win over critical Iowa Caucus voters who are heavily pro-life evangelicals.
In a Fox News interview, Mr. Musk promoted the Wednesday campaign launch, promising a non-scripted interview with “real-time questions and answers.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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