Florida's Latest News

DeSantis set to announce for president on Twitter with Musk

Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce his presidential bid Wednesday night on Twitter alongside Elon Musk.

DeSantis will launch his campaign on Twitter Spaces, an audio platform, according to NBC News and Fox News, which first reported the event. The conversation with Musk will be moderated by businessman David Sacks. Various reports have it happening at either 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.

Nick Iarossi, a Tallahassee lobbyist who’s been an adviser and fundraiser for DeSantis since he first ran for governor, confirmed in a text message that DeSantis will announce his candidacy with the billionaire owner of Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla.

Musk said Tuesday that the announcement would be “quite groundbreaking,” according to NBC News, but added he was “not going to endorse any particular candidate.”

The campaign will reportedly also unveil a launch video at the same time.

How DeSantis plans to jolt the GOP presidential primary and seize back the narrative

In the early days of his governorship, Ron DeSantis, still largely unknown to even the people who elected him, barnstormed across Florida’s 65,000 square miles, popping up almost daily in a different community to announce new initiatives or unexpected actions. News outlets, opposition Democrats and fellow Republicans unaccustomed to such energy from the executive were caught by surprise.

“Where did this Ron DeSantis come from?” read a February 2019 headline in the Tampa Bay Times, a month after he took office.

Scott Ross, a veteran Tallahassee lobbyist and fundraiser who was among DeSantis’ earliest supporters in 2018, said the governor has relished being the underdog before. In his first gubernatorial campaign, DeSantis trailed in the polls in his primary and in the general election and was written off at times. Those races show DeSantis is comfortable running from behind and will do whatever it takes to remain competitive against Trump and the rest of the GOP field, Ross said.

“Ron DeSantis is the single-most mission-oriented person I’ve met in my entire life,” Ross said. “All the negative chatter out there that the media might say, ‘It’s a shot to the jaw, he’s gotta be rattled,’ he’s not. It’s not who he is.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launches campaign for president to challenge Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, stepping into a crowded Republican primary contest that will test both his national appeal as an outspoken cultural conservative and the GOP’s willingness to move on from former President Donald Trump.

The 44-year-old Republican revealed his decision in a Federal Election Commission filing before an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

It marks a new chapter in his extraordinary rise from little-known congressman to two-term governor to a leading figure in the nation’s bitter fights over race, gender, abortion and other divisive issues. DeSantis is considered to be Trump's strongest Republican rival even as the governor faces questions about his far-right policies, his campaign-trail personality and his lack of relationships across the Republican ecosystem. Still, DeSantis has generated significant interest among GOP primary voters by casting himself as a younger and more electable version of the embattled former president.

DeSantis’ audio-only announcement was streamed on Twitter Spaces.

Who is Jeanette Nuñez? Florida's Lt. Governor moves up if DeSantis wins presidential election

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis filed to enter the 2024 presidential race Wednesday afternoon after months of anticipation and launched his campaign after successfully pushing a conservative, red meat agenda during this year’s state legislative session. If DeSantis, who will fight for the Republican nominee spot against former President Donald Trump, wins his bid for the White House, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez will step in to lead Florida, according to Florida Statute 14.005.

Nuñez, who got her start in politics as a state representative in 2010, became the first Latina lieutenant governor in Florida in 2018.

It’s “a huge source of pride for me, for my family, but most importantly for my community,” she told NBC News.

Nuñez helped DeSantis promote his hard-right policies across the state this year, including slamming diversity, equity and inclusion education in colleges and universities.