On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis formally filed with the Federal Elections Commission declaring himself a candidate for president in 2024, the Associated Press reported.
The popular Republican has been preparing for his entry into the race, establishing a team of volunteers in early primary states to knock on doors, populating his campaign team, meeting with potential donors, and securing endorsements from prominent Republican state legislators in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Florida. The preparations included every imaginable detail, including updating the handle of DeSantis’ personal Twitter account from @RonDeSantisFL to simply @RonDeSantis.
DeSantis kicked off his first day as an official candidate with a series of interviews Wednesday evening, starting with a Twitter Spaces discussion hosted by CEO Elon Musk. The governor also appeared on Fox News with host Trey Gowdy and on Mark Levin’s radio program.
DeSantis used the interviews to outline his vision for the country and discussed in detail his agenda, displaying his broad knowledge on a wide array of issues.
Just moments before the Twitter Space discussion began, DeSantis released his official campaign announcement video online.
While the Twitter Spaces event was initially marred by technical problems due to the sheer number of people attempting to listen in, once the technical issues were solved, the discussion was wide-ranging and informative, with DeSantis taking questions from several prominent conservatives, including Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie and school choice advocate Christopher Rufo.
Without mentioning Donald Trump by name, DeSantis took veiled swipes at his primary rival during the Twitter Spaces discussion, saying that the Republican Party needed to “end the culture of losing” that has infected it in recent years.
In his wide-ranging interview with Trey Gowdy on Fox News, DeSantis addressed the technical difficulties during the Twitter Spaces discussion, telling Gowdy that the audience was so huge that it broke the Twitter Space.
He also responded to Trump’s complaint about holding primary debates, saying he believes all of the candidates should participate. “Nobody’s entitled to anything in this world,” he added.
Additional clips from Trey Gowdy’s interview with Governor DeSantis can be found in this Twitter thread from NewsBusters’ Managing Editor Curtis Houck.
