MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his candidacy for the White House during a Twitter event Wednesday evening, multiple reports indicate.
It will occur on Twitter Spaces, which the social media platform uses for live audio features, with CEO Elon Musk, according to CBS News. A launch video will then follow the conversation, NBC News reports.
It's the latest sign of DeSantis' presidential candidacy. In recent days, a “Team DeSantis for President” bus made the rounds across Iowa and slight changes appeared on the governor’s personal Twitter handle (he dropped the “FL”).
“He has to file the paperwork today and tomorrow, to be sure he's legitimate [candidate]. And then we'll go forward from there,” says 10 Tampa Bay Political Analyst Lars Hafner.
DeSantis’ expected FEC filing coincides with a two-day long meeting scheduled in Miami with top DeSantis supporters and donors.
The announcement would end months of speculation that the Republican governor, who recently wrote a book on “Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” will be taking his political ambitions nationally.
DeSantis will enter a growing field as the likely top competitor to Former President Donald Trump in the race for the 2024 GOP nomination.
“The polling shows that DeSantis is still well behind, but he is running at number two, and the fact that he is really going against his mentor, Trump does not like that at all. So Trump's going to throw the kitchen sink at him and try to run him off sooner rather than later,” Hafner adds.
DeSantis has offered some veiled criticism of the former president in recent weeks, his political team is no longer shying away from using his name.
Reports show a Trump-affiliated Super PAC has spent $15 million in anti-DeSantis ads thus far, to which Team DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin responded, in part “Ron DeSantis presents the greatest threat to Donald Trump.”
While his announcement is likely imminent, multiple outlets, including CBS News, report DeSantis will make an official announcement and campaign kickoff during an event in his hometown of Dunedin early next month.