The Florida governor is seen as the biggest threat to current front-runner Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
Ron DeSantis is set to announce his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in a live Twitter chat with billionaire platform owner Elon Musk, touting his ultra-conservative record as Florida governor as America’s model .
DeSantis will make the announcement during Wednesday’s Twitter Spaces event and file with the Federal Election Commission to declare his candidacy at the same time, his political team said.
Musk confirmed the plan during a conference organized by the Wall Street Journal.
“I’ll be interviewing Ron DeSantis, and he has a big announcement to make,” Musk confirmed on Tuesday, promising the 6pm (2200 GMT) event would be unscripted, with “real-time Q&A” .
“It’s going to be live. Let it break,” Musk told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council conference, saying he didn’t support DeSantis and wanted the platform to be “kind of like a town square.”
DeSantis was re-elected to a second term as Florida governor in November, and his passionate battles over pandemic lockdowns and divisive cultural issues have endeared him to conservatives. His rising profile among Republicans and his fundraising prowess are likely to make him the biggest threat to former President Donald Trump’s bid to regain the Republican nomination for the White House.
The two men were close allies during Trump’s four years in the White House — Trump endorsed him during his first campaign for governor — but DeSantis has forged his own political identity. At 44, he may represent the future of the party more than the 76-year-old Trump.
“Advertising on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis. That way he doesn’t have to interact with people and the media can’t ask him any questions,” said a Trump adviser who asked not to be identified.
Long seen as the most viable challenger to the twice-impeached Trump, DeSantis is better known than most hopefuls in the race for the Republican nomination, but he still lacks the national profile of the front-runner.
During the coronavirus pandemic, DeSantis became the national face of resistance to mask and vaccine mandates and has been a fierce critic of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the government’s response to COVID-19 during the administrations of Trump and Biden.
Trump was banned from Twitter after the 2021 storming of the US Capitol by his supporters, and has not returned since being reinstated in November.
He has been attacking DeSantis almost daily about his record, character and fitness for office, but he responded to Wednesday’s announcement with relative restraint, simply posting favorable polls on his own online platform, Truth Social.
