According to a recent report, Governor Ron DeSantis and his team are actively preparing for a 2024 presidential run.
Advisors to the Florida Republican have already identified multiple potential hires for a 2024 run in integral early primary states such as New Hampshire and Iowa, a source with knowledge of the plans told the Washington Post.
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The source reported that Phil Cox and Generra Peck, two critical members of DeSantis’ 2022 gubernatorial re-election campaign, are involved in the 2024 talks. Cox is a former executive for the Republican Governors Association and has worked on hundreds of political campaigns. Peck was the campaign manager for DeSantis’ wildly successful 2022 run. Both are expected by many to play key roles if the Governor decides to take a bid for the White House, insiders told The Post.
However, DeSantis has not announced plans for a presidential campaign and has actively avoided questions along those lines over the last few months. In his gubernatorial debate against Charlie Crist, he clearly stated that it wasn’t his focus.
"I know Charlie wants to talk about 2024 and Joe Biden, but let me be clear: The only worn-out old donkey I want to put out to pasture is @CharlieCrist." – @RonDeSantisFL 🐐 pic.twitter.com/2LAqHqmxac
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 24, 2022
However, that was back in November, and the Governor’s words have not discouraged the polls. He’s considered the only viable alternative to Former President Donal Trump for the Republican nomination. A new Granite poll out of New Hampshire has DeSantis leading Trump among New Hampshire Republicans by 12 points.
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DeSantis may have been encouraged by the success of his November campaign for re-election as Governor, which saw him win by a staggering 19-point margin statewide and win over voters even in Democrat strongholds such as Miami. If he does decide to run, it’s widely thought he’ll announce it sometime this Spring.
Trump certainly thinks that the possibility is likely. The former president announced his run back in November and is already campaigning. He has also begun attacking the Sunshine State Governor as a preemptive strike. The former president has promised to “handle” DeSantis and even gave him the nickname ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ in a November rally.
However, Trump has turned up the heat recently. According to The Daily Mail, he told reporters on Saturday that he helped DeSantis win the Governorship in 2018 and called DeSantis ‘disloyal’ for allegedly considering a run against him.
“Ron would have not been governor if it wasn’t for me,’ ‘So then when I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal.”
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