Florida governor Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his campaign for president on Wednesday night in modern fashion – in an online conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter.
DeSantis is expected to follow up the 6 p.m. Twitter spaces Musk interview with an 8 p.m. interview with Trey Gowdy on Fox News, according to a Fox report.
Additional details about DeSantis’s post-announcement moves, including his travel schedule and if and when he will have a public kickoff of his campaign in Florida, remain unclear. He is meeting with top financial backers in Miami this week.
DeSantis has long been seen by many on the right as the Republican best positioned to take on former president Donald Trump, his one-time ally, in what is likely to be a grueling and potentially nasty primary race.
The former congressman and one-time tea party favorite, spent his first term as governor building a national reputation as a smart and pugnacious conservative willing to push back against leftwing orthodoxy. DeSantis’s nearly 20-point re-election win in November only cemented his position as a top-tier Republican presidential contender.
But despite his efforts to establish himself as Trump’s chief Republican rival, DeSantis will enter the race far behind in the polls. He’s also taking flak from other Republicans in the race.
On Tuesday, candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign released a letter stating that rather than being “like Trump without the drama,” DeSantis is more like “Trump Without the Charm,” adding that DeSantis has an “inability to interact directly with voters.” His decision to announce his presidential campaign online rather than in a public setting could be seen as additional evidence of that.
DeSantis’s allies have said that he intends to campaign hard across all 99 counties in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state, which his campaign views as critical, according to a report in the Messenger. A win there could help clear the field heading into New Hampshire, where DeSantis is also investing heavily.