Ron DeSantis To Enter Presidential Race Next Week: Reports

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Political pundits have speculated for months that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024. On Wednesday, the candidate horse race sped up with media reports that the two-term governor will announce his run for the White House next week.

DeSantis has been signing bills this week that ban children from attending drag shows and using their preferred pronouns at school, prevent trans kids from accessing gender-affirming medical care, and expand the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law that limits classroom conversations on sexual orientation and gender for students in all grades.

DeSantis, who is closest to GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump in national polling, is expected to officially enter the presidential race next week, The New York Times reported Thursday. Becoming a formal candidate will let DeSantis raise the millions of dollars that are essential to challenge Trump.

The newspaper said DeSantis is expected to file paperwork declaring his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission before a May 25 fund-raising meeting with donors in Miami. By law he must formally enter the race before he can solicit presidential campaign donations.

In a call with top donors Thursday hosted by the Never Back Down super PAC, the governor told supporters he is the only person who can beat President Joe Biden and discounted Trump's election chances. The New York Times had a reporter who listened to the call.

“You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing,” DeSantis told donors, the paper said. “Biden, Trump and me, and I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him.”

DeSantis has not commented on the reports about his pending announcement.

If DeSantis enters the race next week, the big announcement will be made the following week in his hometown of Dunedin outside Tampa, CNN reported Thursday.

One source told CNN the launch date for the campaign is not concrete, and DeSantis is known to surprise supporters and advisers with last-minute changes. DeSantis, who often says he runs an operation free of leaks, may change his timing just to thwart media outlets.

Last month Florida lawmakers passed legislation allowing DeSantis to run for president without resigning as governor, according to a Washington Post report.

Related: New FL Laws Target Drag Shows, Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Kids

National GOP primary polls show former President Trump with a 20 to 30 point lead over DeSantis, according to Real Clear Politics, with the governor in the upper teens to mid-20s. Other GOP contenders like former Vice President Mike Pence are in the single digits.

Political experts have speculated for months on the possibility and timing of a White House bid by DeSantis, who would join Trump in a Republican primary. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley have also announced their plans to run.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is exploring a run for the White House. Last weekend, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he may take a look at running. More GOP contenders are expected to join the field in the coming weeks.

On May 13, DeSantis drew large crowds in Sioux Center, Iowa, at a fundraiser for U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra and at a Cedar Rapids event for the Republican Party of Iowa. The state will hold the first Republican presidential caucus in early 2024.

Trump was supposed to speak at a rally in Des Moines the evening of May 13, but canceled because of bad weather. So, DeSantis pivoted and made an unscheduled stop in Des Moines at a popular barbecue restaurant where he again hit key stump speech topics. Iowans were told the GOP must reject a “culture of losing” and embrace a positive vision for the future if they want to win in 2024.

“Both Florida and Iowa show strong leadership and a bold agenda can defeat the left in this country,” he said, according to the Des Moines Register. “But there’s no substitute for victory. We must reject the culture of losing that’s infected our party in recent years. The time for excuses is over. We’ve got to demonstrate the courage to lead and the strength to win.

“If we make the 2024 election a referendum on Joe Biden and his failures, and we provide a positive alternative ... Republicans will win across the board,” DeSantis added. “If we do not do that – if we get distracted, if we focus the election on the past or on other side issues — then I think the Democrats are going to beat us again.”

DeSantis Pushes Through Conservative FL Laws

Republicans, who control a supermajority in the Florida statehouse, primarily focused on the governor's conservative priorities during the recent legislative session, approving bills that will likely form much of the governor's platform when he launches his White House bid.

Meanwhile, DeSantis has leaned heavily into cultural divides on his path to a White House bid.

In April, DeSantis signed into law a measure banning abortions in the state after six weeks of pregnancy. The legislation's passage solidified Florida's place among a handful of states with the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation and gave the governor a critical political victory among Republican primary voters.

Last week, the Florida Board of Education approved a request by DeSantis to expand a controversial law prohibiting classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to all grades.

The Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, was signed into law last year. Currently, the bill prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade "in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students."

"We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination," DeSantis said at the news conference following the bill's signing.
Regardless, DeSantis — who has operated for much of the year with a quiet confidence that he could enter the race on his terms — isn't likely to make any announcements until after the state legislature concludes its business in early May.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.