Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks throughout the annual Feenstra Family Picnic on the Dean Family Classic Automobile Museum in Sioux Center, Iowa, May 13, 2023.
Rebecca S. Gratz | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is predicted to formally announce next week he’s running for president in 2024, NBC News reported Thursday, citing two sources acquainted with the matter.
The governor’s official entry into the Republican primary field will put him head-to-head with former President Donald Trump, the party’s current frontrunner for the nomination. Trump has already spent months treating DeSantis as his primary campaign rival, thrashing him with torrents of criticism over his gubernatorial record, his political skills and his personality.
DeSantis was already on course to make a public announcement about his political plans by the tip of May. His political operation’s recent move to a latest location reportedly triggered a 15-day window for him to file a press release of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
But he’ll as an alternative make an official announcement inside the subsequent seven days, NBC confirmed.
The announcement will come at a precarious moment for DeSantis. While he won an amazing reelection victory in November and enjoys high levels of support in Florida, polls of the potential primary field show him trailing Trump by increasingly wide margins.
Meanwhile, some in his own party have began to query his strategy about just a few of his most high-profile actions as governor. DeSantis’ willingness to make use of the facility of his office to interact in polarizing social-issue fights helped propel him to the national stage. But considered one of his most important battles against Disney has morphed right into a protracted court battle that shows no signs of resolving soon.
“DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney,” Trump crowed Thursday after the corporate announced it was scrapping plans to open a latest worker campus in Florida.
A spokesperson for DeSantis’ political operation declined CNBC’s request for comment on earlier reporting that the governor can be submitting key FEC filings next week.
