Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his candidacy for president in 2024 during a Twitter event with billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday.
His inclusion makes him former President Donald Trump’s most likely Republican nomination rival. The nominee will face Democratic President Joe Biden in November 2024.
Aides said DeSantis, 44, will also file a candidacy declaration with the Federal Election Commission.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Twitter, who has 140 million Twitter followers, stated that his appearance will not be an endorsement, but rather a reflection of his desire to make the service a town square.
The Twitter space event is slated for 6 p.m. ET (2200 GMT).
DeSantis will gather his top donors at a Miami hotel on Wednesday to begin fundraising.
DeSantis will almost certainly argue that he is the only Republican capable of defeating Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020.
We must reject our party’s recent culture of defeat. “No more excuses,” DeSantis said earlier this month in Iowa.
In the weeks leading up to his presidential campaign, DeSantis has visited early nominating states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
As governor of Florida, he brags about his pandemic policy battles with the federal government.
His decision to wait until now to intervene has allowed Trump to launch a barrage of attacks against DeSantis, harming the governor in national polls and frustrating allies who wanted him to intervene sooner.
DeSantis and his advisers waited until the Florida Legislature gave him a string of policy victories before entering the race, which they did.
He signed legislation restricting abortions, allowing residents to carry concealed weapons, expanding a voucher program for private schools, and eliminating diversity programs at public universities.
The Walt Disney Company’s criticism of gender identity laws in public schools continues to pit DeSantis against the company.
The company filed a federal lawsuit against DeSantis for using state government to punish its operations.
Republican candidates include former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
