Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, officially announced his campaign for president on Wednesday evening during an appearance with Elon Musk on Twitter.
Widely considered former President Donald Trump’s top competitor in the 2024 GOP primary, DeSantis, 44, filed the required Federal Election Commission paperwork and tweeted a campaign video vowing to “lead our great American comeback” before his first-of-its-kind announcement on Twitter.
DeSantis was raised in Dunedin, Florida, and after playing baseball at Yale, he earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. He then joined the U.S. navy as a JAG officer, deploying to Iraq where he served as an adviser to U.S. Navy SEALs.
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Trump responded to DeSantis’ announcement, writing the following post on his social media platform Truth Social:
I’d like to personally congratulate “Rob” DeSanctimonious on finally announcing that he will be entering the race for President of the United States. Hopefully he will get the full experience of being attacked by the Marxists, Communists, and Radical Left Lunatics of our Country, without which he will never know the kind of job he is doing. These Lowlifes & Misfits are far worse than the leaders of hostile foreign countries. They must be soundly defeated in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
In addition to Trump and DeSantis, other Republicans who have thrown their hat in the ring include popular conservative Larry Elder, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
This was a breaking news story. The details were periodically updated as more information became available.
