Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce Wednesday on Twitter that he’s running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 with a plan to make his state a national blueprint, following months of speculation about whether he can beat former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary.
DeSantis is seen as the most viable primary challenger to the twice-impeached and indicted former president, who is currently enjoying a historically large lead in the polls. The governor won reelection by nearly 20 points and helped usher a red wave into the once-swing state of Florida last year, even though Republican candidates underperformed practically everywhere else in the midterms. Since those victories, however, DeSantis has had a tough few months marked by policy stumbles and social blunders. And that’s left some in his party doubting whether he’s ready for the national stage.
As governor, he’s steered Florida sharply to the right, signing an ultra-restrictive six-week abortion ban in Florida that some in the GOP worry will be unpalatable to general election voters. He’s locked in a high-stakes fight with Disney in which he’s suffered loss after loss after loss, neutralizing his ability to claim victory over “woke” corporations. He’s waited perhaps too long to enter the race and largely left Trump’s attacks largely unanswered in the meantime. He’s already made a few gaffes on subjects from Ukraine to chocolate pudding (allegedly). And there are questions about his likability.
All of that has raised concerns among some top GOP donors that DeSantis just isn’t that good at retail politics. The case for DeSantis was always that his policies aligned with Trump’s, but that, unlike the former president, he had less baggage dragging him down and he was a proven winner. The past few months have put that in doubt.
Hesitancy about DeSantis has been reflected in polling: Trump’s lead widened in the last month to nearly 30 percentage…
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