Ron DeSantis confirms his 2024 presidential bid for the Republican nomination

Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has confirmed he is running for US president in 2024.

Mr DeSantis, 44, is viewed as former President Donald Trump's chief rival to be their party's candidate in the general election.

His candidacy has long been expected, and he has now registered officially with the Federal Election Commission.

Mr DeSantis is expected to speak later in an interview with Twitter's Elon Musk.

The conversation will happen on Twitter Spaces, a platform that allows live audio conversations that other Twitter users can join and engage with.

Wednesday's event, scheduled at 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT), will be moderated by tech entrepreneur David Sacks, a close ally of Mr Musk and a supporter of Mr DeSantis.

The Republican joins a growing list of contenders seeking to unseat Mr Trump, who leads his party's field by more than 30 points in national opinion polls.

The latest survey from Morning Consult - published last week, before Mr DeSantis' announcement - has the Florida governor a distant second behind Mr Trump, with a 38-point margin.

Through a lengthy primary process beginning early next year, Republican voters will decide which candidate will face President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the November 2024 general election.

Mr DeSantis is a relative newcomer in US politics, having first been elected to the House of Representatives in 2012. Just six years later in 2018 - after a failed bid to become a senator - he was elected governor.

The Ivy League-educated former US Navy officer has been criticised by Democrats for what they describe as extremism, while earning credit inside his own party for a growing list of legislative victories on key conservative issues in Florida.

Since becoming governor, he has overseen the enactment of high-profile laws that make it easier to own a gun, restrict sex and gender identity education in schools, and curtail abortion access. He has claimed that this "Florida Blueprint" can act as a guide for federal policies, one that would move the country in a sharply conservative direction.

And Florida's last legislative session cleared a potential "resign-to-run" hurdle for Mr DeSantis' candidacy after it passed a bill that ensures he does not have to leave the governor's mansion to run for the presidency.

Mr DeSantis will also have the benefit of a formidable war chest. At the end of last month, he had $88m (£71m) in a fund left over from his Florida re-election campaign that can be transferred to his White house bid.

He also reportedly has about $30m controlled by an independent committee that his allies can use to support his campaign.

Mr Trump, by contrast, reported a combined $18.8m in fundraising over the first three months of 2023.

Mr DeSantis is expected to tap Generra Peck to serve as his campaign manager. Ms Peck, Mr DeSantis' top political advisor, led the daily operations of the governor's 2022 re-election campaign, guiding him to a nearly 20-point victory.

And hiring is already underway for DeSantis campaign bases in at least 18 states, according to reporting from the Associated Press and the New York Times.