Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has filed paperwork to make it official that he’s running for president in the 2024 election and plans to take on Donald Trump for the Republican nod in hopes to go against Joe Biden or whomever Democrats pick.
This was speculated many times over the last year, but finally made official and Ron DeSantis, 44, looks to begin his first presidential campaign for the 2024 election in hopes to take down Trump for the GOP nomination. However, Trump will be a very difficult opponent to defeat as he’s already won one election and looks to win a second. This situation with Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump will put Republican voters at odds.
DeSantis will formally announce his run for president on Twitter at 6pm EST in a conversation with Elon Musk, giving Twitter users a first glance at who could be their future president amid a rivalry with a former president in Donald Trump. The rivalry is heating up with Trump throwing words towards DeSantis, or about him, in various ways as reported by CNBC:
Trump has already pummeled the governor with relentless attacks for months. Trump and his allies have assailed DeSantis’ record, his political abilities and even his personality, while amplifying negative news about the governor. One pro-Trump PAC even cut an ad depicting an anecdote about DeSantis eating pudding with his fingers, which the governor has denied.
Trump’s aggression may have paid off. Polls of the potential primary field have showed DeSantis, once Trump’s close competitor, consistently losing ground for months, even as the governor toured key battlegrounds and racked up policy wins with his state’s GOP-held Legislature.
By making his bid official, DeSantis solidifies the emerging rivalry between himself and Trump, effectively ending their previously close relationship. Some members of the GOP see DeSantis as a potential replacement for Trump as the party’s standard-bearer.
A recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, released earlier on Wednesday, highlights DeSantis’ challenge. In a hypothetical primary matchup, Republican and GOP-leaning voters overwhelmingly favored Trump over DeSantis, with 56% choosing Trump and only 25% supporting DeSantis. This result indicates Trump’s continued popularity and DeSantis’ decline since the previous Quinnipiac survey conducted in late March.