Ron DeSantis will announce he’s running for president in a conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter, ending months of speculation about the ambitions of Florida’s Republican governor in 2024 and putting the billionaire owner of Twitter front and center in the race for the White House.
DeSantis, 44, will launch his campaign Wednesday night with an event on Twitter Spaces, the social media platform’s format for audio conversations, according to a person familiar with the governor’s plans.
Musk also confirmed the event, saying, “We’ll be interviewing Ron DeSantis, and he’s got an announcement to make.”
“It will be the first time something like this has happened on social media, and with a real-time Q&A,” Musk said in remarks at a Wall Street Journal conference Tuesday afternoon. “Not written. So you will be alive.”
DeSantis is also expected to post a video to social media launching his campaign on Wednesday. His intention to announce was officially reported on Twitter for the first time by NBC.
He has already invited wealthy donors to join him in Miami, Florida, this week, where he is expected to lay out his strategy for 2024 and try to kick off fundraising ahead of what is likely to be a grueling campaign against former President Donald Trump. Trump and an increasingly crowded field of aspiring Republicans.
Trump maintains a significant lead, with the support of more than half of primary Republican voters, according to the latest average of polls compiled by RealClearPolitics. DeSantis comes in a narrow second, at just 20 percent, followed by a handful of candidates and potential contenders — from Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence to onetime South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who poll in singles. numbers.
The decision to host the ad on Twitter comes as Musk, a self-declared free-speech advocate, has relaxed moderation of content on the platform he bought in October for $44 billion and appears to be courting some increasingly conservative figures to feature more prominently. on the platform.
Earlier this month, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced that he plans to relaunch his show on Twitter after being fired from the US cable network.
Just a day before the DeSantis news broke, Musk paid tribute to Tim Scott, the Republican senator from South Carolina who launched his presidential campaign on Monday. Musk posted a campaign video from the senator with the caption: “Great statement from Tim Scott!”
However, Musk said on Tuesday that he “has not, at this time, attempted to endorse any particular candidate” and that he plans to host and feature interviews with people across the political spectrum.
