Ron DeSantis To Announce Presidential Bid In Chat With Elon Musk: NBC

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Defying political norms, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to launch his presidential campaign Wednesday during a conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, NBC News reported.

The duo will host an event on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET, the network said. David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is a Musk confidant and DeSantis supporter, will moderate the chat.

The Florida Legislature adopted laws pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to enact a six-week abortion ban and expand a ban on discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity to all school grades, as the Republican governor weighed a run for president.

DeSantis, who is closest to GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump in national polling, was set to meet with key financial backers in Miami May 24-26 as he prepares to launch a presidential campaign, Politico reported. DeSantis cannot receive or solicit contributions for a presidential campaign unless he has formally entered the race, the law says.

Earlier this week South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott announced that he is seeking the nomination, adding to the field 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.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently 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 Vs. Trump

The pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down has for several weeks aired television ads in Iowa with some of his favorite talking points: That Florida is where woke goes to die, and he will never back down.

Trump commercials by the Make America Great Again political action committee are also on the air in Iowa. A recent TV ad targets votes by DeSantis when he served in Congress to cut Social Security and Medicare and raise the retirement age.

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.

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.