Conservative Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday that he would seek the Republican Party’s nomination for president in the 2024 election. The 44-year-old politician is considered the most serious rival of former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House.
DeSantis filed his papers with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, then announced his intention to run in the primaries on Twitter in a conversation with billionaire Elon Musk, and then announced his candidacy in conservative media outlets, including Fox News.
The ociated Press draws attention to the rapid career of a politician who, after a triumphant victory in the elections for a second term as governor, turned from a little-known congressman into a prominent figure on the right wing of the Republicans.
Given the polls, electoral infrastructure and funding available to DeSantis, he is considered one of the best-placed politicians in the race early in his campaign.
Trump’s campaign staff, aware of the Florida governor’s strong position, has been investing in political adver for several months to discredit him. The former president himself also attacks DeSantis; hours before the official announcement of his political plans, he wrote that the governor of Florida was “in desperate need of a personality transplant.”
Political analysts point out, however, that the governor is very popular in Florida, but Republican voters in other states do not know him well, and he lacks charisma and the ability to present himself well in the media, unless it is carefully directed appearances.
DeSantis studied at Yale and Harvard Universities, is a lawyer by training, and served – also as a lawyer – in the US Navy, including at the military prison at the Guantanamo base.
In March, the governor said on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show that it was not in the vital interest of the US to continue to engage in Russia’s “territorial dispute” with Ukraine.
“While the US has many vital national interests – securing our borders, addressing the preparedness crisis in our military, achieving energy security, and limiting the economic, cultural and military power of the Chinese Communist Party – continuing to become entangled in the territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” said DeSantis.
A few days later, in another interview, he called Vladimir Putin a war criminal, but added that Crimea and Donb once belonged to Russia.
DeSantis is the seventh right-wing politician to officially announce his intention to run for president. Former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Governor and former U.S. Ambador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, investor Vivek Ramaswamy, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, radio columnist Larry Elder and South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott have done so.
The favorite in the polls, however, is Trump, whom more than half of Republican voters want to vote for. DeSantis has an approval rating of 20 percent. (PAP)
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