Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is not yet a candidate for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2024. But sort of, yes.
The conservative firebrand, who according to polls is the most popular Republican candidate other than Donald Trump, hasn't declared his candidacy yet, but he's already begun to take the actions that a candidate for president would normally take.
He recently spoke to law enforcement organizations in New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, among other places outside his home state. He has planned upcoming party fundraising occasions in Texas, Alabama, and California. His political action committee is hiring personnel with experience working on national campaigns. Additionally, he has a full calendar of media appearances scheduled for Tuesday to promote his aspirationally titled new memoir, The Courage to Be Free.
So what is he waiting for? Four years ago, at this time, there were eleven Democratic candidates vying for their party's nomination, including future front-runners (for a while) Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Two candidates had already declared their intentions before withdrawing. The Democratic primary campaign was in full swing.
The solution is simple, claims Florida-based conservative columnist Myra Adams. Mr. DeSantis has every reason to run; if he succeeds, he will receive the nomination; if he fails, he will be in a good position to run again in 2028. He must wait until after the Florida legislative session concludes, which could happen as late as May, to enter the race though, as he was only recently sworn in to a second four-year term as governor.
It wouldn't be a good idea to announce right away, she says. "Having six months of breathing room makes sense because he just got re-elected. The Florida legislative session will then be a platform for him to demonstrate his leadership abilities to a wider audience. ".
The ability of Disney, which runs a theme park in central Florida, to manage the neighborhood's local government and infrastructure services was restricted by a law that the governor signed on Monday. Mr. DeSantis has argued with the Hollywood mogul from California over his conservative educational policies, which include a rule that restricts how public school teachers can talk about LGBT issues. The altercation garnered widespread media attention.
In addition to supporting legislation that would cut funding for diversity initiatives, limit faculty tenure, impose new general education requirements, and target gender and race studies in colleges, he has appointed prominent conservatives to positions overseeing Florida universities.
On March 7, Mr. DeSantis will deliver a significant speech to the state, giving him another opportunity to highlight the kind of conservative governance credentials that will sway Republican primary voters outside of Florida.
He has set out on the road to promote the kind of political memoir that is typically published by would-be presidential candidates. He conducted his first media interview on the subject on Sunday with Fox News' Mark Levin.
He criticized the political clout of large corporations, claimed that federal bureaucrats were undermining conservative policies, and defended the overly aggressive politics that some have criticized him for.
He claimed that if you're not taking offense, you're essentially a sitting duck who is open to constant attack from these people.
He added that he identified with the Midwest, a crucial battleground state in presidential elections, and that he thought of himself as a Midwesterner at heart.
The DeSantis book is an example of the cautious writing style common among politicians with grandiose aspirations who don't want their writing to come back to haunt them.
The Florida governor talks up his successes there and warmly praises Mr. Trump, his potential rival, and their "good relationship" when he was a member of Congress for a Florida district. Excerpts from his remarks were published in the New York Post.
Up to a point, he also attributes his election as governor of Florida to the former president.
I was confident that many would see me as a good candidate once they learned about my record once they learned about the Trump endorsement, he said. "I knew a Trump endorsement would provide me with the exposure to [Republican] primary voters across the state of Florida.".
If Mr. DeSantis and the former president got along well, their relationship has soured, to put it mildly, as the former is considering a bid for president in 2024 and the latter is already in the running. In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has launched a barrage of criticisms against the governor of Florida, calling him names, accusing him of being a globalist, supporting an endless conflict in Ukraine, and acting hastily to declare the state's state of emergency during the CoVid-19 pandemic.
So far, Mr. DeSantis has refrained from retaliating. In addition, he won't be attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) later this week in the Washington, DC, area, where he would have appeared on stage with his rival. Myra Adams believes that at this point, staying away from CPAC and keeping his mouth shut about Mr. Trump is the best course of action.
She claims that his absence will generate more buzz. "CPAC is a Trump rally; it is TPAC. Instead, it creates a clear division between Trump's camp and DeSantis's camp, leaving one to wonder why DeSantis would even want to put himself in that situation. ".
However, she warns that a fight is imminent because Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump both believe they can win the race for the Republican nomination.
Public opinion surveys show that both sides are both confident and uneasy. Mr. Trump typically takes the lead in races with multiple candidates. According to a recent Fox News poll, the former president has 43 percent of the vote, Mr. DeSantis has 28 percent, and all other candidates—whether officially declared or not—are in the single digits. But in a head-to-head poll earlier this month by the Club for Growth, Mr. DeSantis defeated Mr. Trump 49 to 40 percent.
According to Ms. Adams, "neither one believes they can lose.". "Each believes the other is entirely defeatable. They are aware of these areas. They are adept at attacking them. Both parties will not yield. It's going to hurt like hell.
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