DeSantis enters the race for the White House – with the help of Elon Musk

Ron DeSantis

The 44-year-old conservative hardliner is considered a promising Republican contender for the presidency.

(Photo: Reuters)

Washington Prominent Republican Ron DeSantis wants to announce his candidacy for the US presidency on Wednesday evening. This is reported by American media such as the New York Times.

DeSantis is governor of the US state of Florida and became known outside of the USA, among other things, for his campaign against the Disney group.

According to the reports, DeSantis wants to announce his presidential plans on the short message service Twitter. In a conversation broadcast there with Twitter boss Elon Musk, the 44-year-old is said to officially start the race.

The format is unusual, with presidential candidates typically beginning their campaigns with a video message or a live performance in front of an audience.

The event is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Twitter Spaces, a platform for audio chats. It will be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is a Musk confidante and a DeSantis supporter. DeSantis then wants to appear on Fox News TV.

That has never happened in the US

The 44-year-old conservative hardliner is considered a promising Republican contender for the presidency. In party polls, only former President Donald Trump scores higher than DeSantis.

Trump had already announced in November that he wanted to run for the presidency again. US citizens will go to the polls in November 2024, and US President Joe Biden is aiming for a second term.

DeSantis has been governor of the southern US state of Florida since early 2019. In November 2022, he was confirmed in office with a strong result – which also strengthened his position in view of his striving for higher things.

Parts of German politics are looking for proximity to DeSantis: At the beginning of May, a delegation of CSU members of the Bundestag visited the governor in his office in Tallahassee.

A few years ago, Trump was a kind of mentor for DeSantis, now both men are enemies. Before the father of three DeSantis made a career as a politician, he attended the elite universities of Yale and Harvard, served in the Navy and in Iraq. Before being elected governor, DeSantis was a member of the House of Representatives.

Tesla CEO and outgoing Twitter boss Musk has long been a supporter of DeSantis. However, it is rather unusual for presidential candidates to ally themselves directly with CEOs and vice versa.

Twitter, Facebook and other platforms have set up campaign hubs and are hugely important for raising party funds. But starting a campaign in cooperation with a tech mogul has never been done before in the USA.

More: Interview with Peter Thiel – when tech entrepreneurs connect with US politics

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