Ron DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign
On May 24, 2023, Ron DeSantis, the 46th and current governor of Florida, announced his candidacy for the 2024 United States presidential election. He formerly sought the Republican Party nomination in its 2024 presidential primaries. On January 21, 2024, DeSantis suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump.[9]
Ron DeSantis for President
Ron DeSantis
46th Governor of Florida
(2019–present)
May 24, 2023
January 21, 2024
- Casey DeSantis (wife and advisor)[1]
- James Uthmeier (campaign manager)[2]
- Dustin Carmack (policy director)[3]
- Bryan Griffin (press secretary)[4]
US$39,134,022.96[5] (January 31, 2024)
DeSantis won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 and was reelected in 2014 and 2016. He sought Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat in 2016, withdrawing when Rubio announced he would seek reelection. In 2018, he was elected governor of Florida, winning reelection in 2022. DeSantis's aggressive decisions during his governorship led to speculation that he would run for president. Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News promoted DeSantis as an alternative to former president Donald Trump following the January 6 Capitol attack. In early 2023, he began a book tour for his newly published memoir The Courage to Be Free in early voting states.
DeSantis officially announced his campaign in a Twitter Spaces discussion with X Corp. CEO Elon Musk, following the release of his plans to the Associated Press a day earlier. Technical issues affected the discussion and became a focal point for critics. His campaign began with an in-person event in Iowa, followed by a tour in early voting states. DeSantis focused on his governorship and his policy record. In particular, he touted his stance on LGBT issues and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida in an effort to differentiate himself from Trump.[10] Although DeSantis initially had competitive support to Trump according to aggregate FiveThirtyEight polls, the margin between Trump and DeSantis steadily widened over the course of 2023.[11][12]
Pre-candidacy developments[edit]
Early speculation[edit]
By January 2021, DeSantis had been a potential candidate in the 2024 presidential election. He was invited to the Republican National Committee's January meeting in Amelia Island, despite supporting then-president Donald Trump at the time.[34] DeSantis's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida ascended him further within the Republican Party; Josh Holmes, an advisor to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said that DeSantis was "having a moment with conservatives".[35] In October 2022, former Florida governor Jeb Bush praised DeSantis as a potential 2024 candidate, and in February 2023, repeated his hopes that DeSantis would run,[36] while reserving he was "praising, not endorsing" DeSantis.[37] A Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll saw DeSantis second only to Trump, and the only other Republican to receive double digit polling numbers in the poll.[38] In May, DeSantis spoke to the Republican Party in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, further fueling speculation of a potential bid, as some Democrats began seeking to mount a campaign against him.[39][40] Despite various endorsements, he publicly opposed a presidential bid, saying that the discussion over his candidacy was "purely manufactured" in a press conference in September 2021.[41] State straw polls suggested a strong connection with college-educated voters within the Republican Party and narrow victories against Trump.[42]
In conservative media, DeSantis was frequently featured and developed a mutual relationship. In an email obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, a Fox News producer said that he "could host [Fox & Friends]". DeSantis forged alliances with conservative pundits, hosting political commentator Dave Rubin and Newsmax reporter Benny Johnson to the Governor's Mansion in January 2022.[43] In The American Conservative and the National Review, he was lauded as a strong alternative to Trump.[44] As the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal—owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp—began to appear critical of Trump for the January 6 Capitol attack,[45] Murdoch's Fox News began shifting coverage to DeSantis and worked with his team to portray him in a positive light;[46] The New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman's book, Confidence Man (2022), states Murdoch was willing to "throw [Trump] over" following his loss in the 2020 presidential election.[47] The New York Post ran the headline, "DeFuture", after DeSantis was reelected, while The Wall Street Journal proclaimed it the "DeSantis Florida tsunami".[48]
DeSantis's speculative campaign was targeted by conspiracy theorists, particularly followers of QAnon. In February 2023, Hungarian-American businessman George Soros expressed his hope that DeSantis would defeat Trump for the Republican nomination, although he qualified this as a hope that such an outcome would result in Trump running as a third-party candidate and splitting the Republican vote rather than a DeSantis presidency, and therefore was not an endorsement.[49] Opponents of DeSantis later seized upon this, putting forward conspiracy theories that DeSantis was "a tool of the Deep State", with "more than 12,000 mentions of 'DeSoros' on social media and news sites" from January to May 2023. Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake falsely claimed that Soros had endorsed DeSantis, which she referred to as "the kiss of death".[50] As speculation continued, Trump mounted attacks against DeSantis, referring to him as "Ron DeSanctimonious" at a rally in Pennsylvania in November 2022, in advance for a presidential campaign.[51] The New York Times reported that Trump has casually used the nickname "Meatball Ron";[52] DeSantis is Italian-American.[53] Several days after the article was published, Trump said on Truth Social that he "will never call Ron DeSanctimonious 'Meatball' Ron", and that it is "totally inappropriate".[54]
Financials[edit]
Fundraising[edit]
The DeSantis campaign announced that DeSantis raised a total of US$8.2 million from online donations and donations made at the Four Seasons Miami, outpacing Trump, who had raised US$9.5 million in the six weeks after he announced his campaign.[171] His campaign is also supported by Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow, whose US$20 million donation to Never Back Down is one of the largest of a single donor in a presidential primary.[172] In a USA Today interview, donors expressed indifference for DeSantis's declining poll numbers, comparing it to a marathon.[173] The donor network of Charles Koch, one of the biggest spenders in American politics,[174] considered supporting DeSantis, but early campaign stumbles have worried Koch.[175] Never Back Down raised an "unprecedented" US$500,000 through the Draft DeSantis 2024 Fund in the days following DeSantis's announcement.[176] By July 6, the DeSantis campaign had raised US$20 million, while Never Back Down touted that it had raised US$130 million.[177] According to a campaign finance disclosure that month, a majority of the money earned by the campaign came from donors who gave the legal maximum, suggesting solvency issues.[178] To reach these donors, DeSantis used private planes, cutting into his funding.[179] The report shows funding slowed down after he announced his candidacy.[180]
In fundraising emails, DeSantis has focused on culture war issues—such as transgender men getting pregnant—with his emails mentioning "woke" more than any other Republican candidate.[181] Seeking to contrast him with Trump, the DeSantis campaign has sought to avoid the beseeching undertone present in many of Trump's fundraising emails. DeSantis's campaign website promises to avoid "smoke and mirrors" and unrealistic donation matching promises. His advisors have argued that transparency with donors could effectively counter the advantage Democratic candidates have had with ActBlue, an online fundraising software, while its Republican alternative, WinRed, was created 15 years later; Never Back Down chief operating officer Kristin Davison stated that a challenge for Republicans is "building out the small-dollar universe". DeSantis's approach has been tried by senator Bernie Sanders, who utilized grassroots donors in his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.[182] Despite this, he has siphoned off former Trump donors, earning more than twice as much from former donors than Nikki Haley; nearly half of all total donations came from precincts that supported Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.[183]
Never Back Down has taken aggressive measures to attract door knockers in a mass national canvassing measure. By July 2023, the organization had an estimated 350 to 400 canvassers, according to Davison. The PAC's canvassing efforts contrast with traditional presidential field organizing efforts, which typically use volunteers. Never Back Down tracks canvassers through an app and must write down their interactions with voters. Although door knockers are reportedly trained and vetted, The Washington Post obtained several videos from Ring doorbells. In one video, a cannabis intoxicated canvasser used "lewd remarks", leading to his firing. Virginia representative Barbara Comstock spoke critically of this practice, stating that campaigns want volunteers who are local and well-versed in the politics of the state. Door knockers are trained at a facility in west Des Moines, Iowa, known as "Fort Benning", where they are coached to avoid reporters and Trump supporters and respect "no trespassing" signs but not "no soliciting" signs. They are managed by subcontractors, including Vanguard Field Strategies, a subsidiary of Axiom Strategies, whose founder—Jeff Roe—is the chief strategist for Never Back Down.[184]
In August 2023, financial filings revealed that Never Back Down had US$97 million in cash on hand and spent US$34 million.[185] The filings show a reliance on wealthy donors, including Bigelow.[186]
Legality[edit]
In May 2023, NBC News reported that staff for the DeSantis administration sent text messages soliciting donations from Florida lobbyists, a potentially legally strenuous maneuver.[187] During a campaign effort in the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas, DeSantis shared a photo op of himself posing in front of a helicopter on Twitter.[188] Although the photo was intended to boost his campaign, DeSantis received criticism when The Daily Beast stated that the helicopter was taxpayer-funded. The publication also noted that DeSantis took a tour of the Rio Grande on a boat owned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as part of Operation Lone Star, accompanied by a Fox News reporter; The New York Times confirmed the boat's status. The Federal Election Commission requires candidates to reimburse government entities when using aircraft given to them.[189] In July, NBC News obtained a confidential campaign memo intended to quell donor concerns; the memo shows that DeSantis is focusing on early voting states and that he views only former President Donald Trump as a significant threat.[190][191]