Ron DeSantis to launch presidential campaign in mid-May: Report
Brady Knox
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is set to launch his 2024 presidential campaign in mid-May, according to a report.
Four GOP operatives familiar with the matter told NBC News that the Florida governor will launch his long-awaited campaign next month. One clarified that mid-May would be the launch of an exploratory campaign, followed closely by an announcement. May 11 would be the earliest date for the launch.
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Advocates for the May 11 launch date argue that the early launch date is needed to counter the narrative that his primary Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, holds an overwhelming majority of support. Others counter that it’s too early and he should instead keep shoring up support.
Dennis Lennox, a Michigan-based Republican strategist who is hoping to support DeSantis in 2024, told the outlet that he falls in the sooner-rather-than-later camp, fearing that waiting too long would forfeit any momentum.
“A good politician knows when their moment is and they seize the opportunity; there’s no question that the door is swinging against DeSantis,” he said. “Gov. DeSantis is the only Republican who can beat Trump. He is the only Republican who can beat Joe Biden. But he’s starting to look like a Scott Walker in 2015, Newt Gingrich in 2012, and Fred Thompson in 2008 — maybe even a Chris Christie — who ended up not getting into the race.”
Whatever the concerns, signs are building that DeSantis continues to ready his campaign. The Republican-controlled Florida Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that clarifies that the state’s governor does not have to resign to run for president. The bill was introduced by the House, so it will now go to DeSantis’s desk, where he is expected to sign it.
Meanwhile, national firms continue to congregate in Tallahassee, showing monetary support for the governor’s potential run.
“There has been an influx of national firms in town over the last few days,” a Florida Republican operative familiar with the meetings told NBC News. “It feels like a team that is staffing up, not scaling down.”
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“Large campaigns require in-house planning, and this has been ‘vendors: assemble’ week in Tallahassee,” another source said.
DeSantis continues to lag behind Republican front-runner Trump; polls show the former president leads DeSantis by an average of 28.1 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.