Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is about to make a move that will be the strongest indicator yet that he plans to take a shot at the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
On Friday, the Florida House approved a bill with a 76-34 vote that would enable the state’s leader to pursue the presidency without having to resign from their current position. The bill was recently passed in the state Senate by a vote of 28 to 12, making its way to Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk for final approval.
The timing of the bill’s approval, coupled with the possibility of Governor DeSantis announcing a presidential bid, makes the situation particularly noteworthy.
“We in this body are doing the governor’s bidding,” Democrat Rep. Angela Nixon said. “He needs to resign to run if he wants to run for president, period. Last time I checked, being governor is a full-time job. Running for president takes a lot of work.”
Republican Lawrence McClure said: “Florida has been a model of election integrity and efficiency, but there’s always room for improvement. This bill seeks to continue Florida success in these areas by streamlining certain provisions of the Florida election code, while ensuring bad actors are held accountable.”
Reports earlier this week revealed that Governor DeSantis had been urged by some of his supporters to make a presidential announcement as early as May 11th to counter the narrative that former President Donald Trump is the top candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination.
Nonetheless, certain members of the governor’s inner circle believe that such an announcement would be untimely. Despite differing viewpoints, sources indicate that the announcement is slated for mid-May and is expected to take the form of an exploratory committee, with the official launch shortly after.
Reports from Tallahassee seem to confirm this, as Republican operatives have disclosed that multiple national firms have arrived in the area, indicating that Governor DeSantis is in the process of assembling a campaign team.
One of the operatives stated, “It feels like a team that is staffing up, not scaling down.” Another source added, “Large campaigns require in-house planning, and this has been ‘vendors: assemble’ week in Tallahassee.”