ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This week in politics… Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may not be a candidate for president just yet, but the race for the nomination is starting to heat up.
With just two weeks left in Florida’s legislative session, the governor is aiming to rack up what he and many Republicans consider legislative wins, as most expect him to enter the race after the session comes to an end.
Some of the things he'll be touting when it wraps, albeit controversial, were some of his priorities entering the session. Things like passing permitless carry, further restricting abortions, and eliminating the unanimous jury requirement for the death penalty on top of other measures related to education and his ongoing battle with Disney.
While he is not a candidate yet, he's been traveling the country like one.
Whether for meetings, speaking events, fundraisers or on his book tour, the governor has visited a number of states including important primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
This week he also spent time in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina and is now gearing up for an overseas trade mission next week, with stops in South Korea, Japan, Israel and the U.K.
One place he hasn’t been recently? Mar-a-Lago, Florida. On Thursday night, 10 Republican members of Congress from Florida had dinner at the resort owned by former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump.
You may recognize some of them from the Tampa Bay area, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, as well as Reps. Greg Steube, Gus Bilirakis and Vern Buchanan. All 10 featured in the photo have endorsed Trump for 2024.
In a quick stretch, Trump reportedly picked up endorsements from 10 of the 20 House Republicans from Florida, DeSantis has just one; Congresswoman Laurel Lee from our area endorsed him earlier this week.
But does this matter right now? 10 Tampa Bay Political Analyst Lars Hafner offers some insight.
“They do matter because it’s all momentum and because he has not announced yet, he needs that momentum to be built and to have elected officials from your home state endorse you is very important in that process,” Hafner says.
“Because when they are not endorsing you, then people outside of the state certainly start questioning why are they not backing the so-called favorite son of the state of Florida,” Hafner added.
What's redistricting got to do with it? Hafner thinks the Governor’s drawn congressional maps may be impacting his potential presidential ambitions, with members of Congress endorsing Trump early on.
"The prediction is they need those [MAGA] votes in order to secure their seat in Congress and that's another reason why they're supporting Donald Trump, DeSantis doesn't offer that, Donald Trump does offer that," Hafner says.
"One of the first priorities of politics is self-preservation, and I think these representatives are making that strategic choice that Donald Trump's better for them in the primary than Ron DeSantis will be," he added.
Though, Rep. Steube gave a more personal reason to Politico.
Let's be clear, we're still very early on in all this. The governor is not actually a candidate yet, though many expect he will enter the race at the end of May and is polling second in most polls already.
Meantime on the other side of the aisle, President Joe Biden could roll out his re-election campaign as soon as next week, he is facing a primary challenge from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who announced his bid for the Democratic nomination earlier this week in Boston.