RON DeSantis is to announce his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in a livestreamed Twitter chat with the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk today, touting his ultra-conservative record as governor of Florida as a blueprint for the nation.

DeSantis will be banking on borrowing some of the tech mogul’s star power to outshine clear frontrunner Donald Trump, who has swept all before him in the early stages of the contest and is polling in greater numbers than all the other contenders combined.

“I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis and he has quite an announcement to make,” Musk confirmed yesterday, promising the 6pm (2200 GMT) event would be unscripted, with “real time questions and answers.”

“It’s going to be live. Let it rip,” Musk told the Wall Street Journal CEO Council conference.

The announcement will come with a campaign launch video and the start of a three-day retreat in Miami for some of DeSantis’s wealthiest donors, who will be briefed on the campaign before the governor makes a swing through several early voting states next week. 

Long viewed as the most viable challenger to twice-impeached former president Trump, DeSantis is better known than most of the hopefuls in the chasing pack for the Republican nomination – but still lacks the frontrunner’s national profile.

The format offers him a dual advantage – giving him precious access to Musk’s 140 million followers, many of whom are in Trump’s base, and, if he wins the nomination, the attention of a chunk of younger, less conservative voters that he will likely need for a shot at the White House.

Ratings in decline

DeSantis has used his platform as Florida’s chief executive to burnish his conservative credentials, signing off on some 80 new state laws this spring, many targeting “woke indoctrination” in schools and other public institutions.

They include a ban on the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, a block on funding for efforts to promote diversity at public universities and one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

But the 44-year-old’s official launch comes with his ratings in decline despite a slate of right-wing legislative wins in his state.

A number of policy missteps have prompted disquiet about his readiness to take on Trump, with donors worried he may have peaked too soon. 

He faces the daunting task of closing an enormous polling gap, with Trump posting leads close to 40 percentage points, despite being indicted on felony financial charges and being found liable for sexual abuse in a New York civil trial.

But DeSantis goes into the campaign with a large cash advantage over his rivals in the pack chasing Trump – a war chest of potentially more than US$100 (RM450) million – and buoyed by strong turnout at a series of recent campaign events. – AFP, May 24, 2023.