Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will reportedly announce his 2024 presidential campaign this Wednesday during a Twitter spaces event with Elon Musk, according to unnamed sources who spoke with the Associated Press (AP).
News of the impending announcement came as DeSantis dropped the letters “FL” from his Twitter handle, effectively rebranding himself as a political actor who is not tied to a single state.
The announcement would end many months of speculation if he would formally enter the race, directly challenging former President Donald Trump — who has stepped up attacks against DeSantis — for the Republican Party nomination.
According to the AP report, Musk tacitly confirmed news of the announcement, mentioning at a London event that DeSantis would be making “quite an announcement” on Wednesday.
Musk added, “The first time something like this is happening on social media, with real time questions and answers,” the AP reported.
The Real Clear Politics polling average currently shows Trump with 56.3 percent support for the nomination, holding a 36.9 percent lead over DeSantis.
Rich Baris, Director of Big Data Poll, recently explained during a two-hour video that Trump’s lead within the GOP will be almost impossible for DeSantis, or any other candidate, to overcome.
DeSantis’s bid, however, is based on selling the idea that he is more electable than Trump in a general election contest against President Joe Biden, who has formally declared his candidacy and is currently the Democratic frontrunner.
Forecasting from Race to the White House, which accurately predicted the outcomes of the 2020 and 2022 elections, shows Biden leading Trump in national polling and Biden easily re-taking the White House if state-by-state (Electoral College) polling is accurate. Biden leads DeSantis in national polling as well, but would be far more likely to beat Biden in electoral votes compared to Trump.
During a call with donors last week, DeSantis said, “You have basically three people at this point that are credible” in the presidential race, according to the New York Times.
“Biden, Trump and me,” DeSantis explained. “And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him.”
