DeSantis launches presidential campaign with glossy ad saying White House battle is worth a FIGHT
Ron DeSantis’s wife has kicked off his 2024 campaign with a stirring video showing the Florida governor preparing to go on stage, accompanied by a voiceover proclaiming that America is worth fighting for.
Casey DeSantis tweeted: ‘America is worth the fight… Every. Single. Time.
She attached a 30-second video, showing her husband backstage, preparing to address an audience.
‘They call it faith because in the face of darkness you can see that brighter future,’ a man’s voice says, narrating the scene.
‘A faith that our best days lie ahead of us.
‘But is it worth the fight? Do I have the courage? Is it worth the sacrifice?
‘America has been worth it every single time.’
It ended with the fundraising message: ‘TEXT LAUNCH TO 512345’
In the 30-second video, DeSantis is seen preparing to go on stage, before an American flag.
Ron DeSantis is seen with his wife Casey in November, when he won re-election as governor of Florida. On Tuesday night he launched his presidential campaign
At the age of 44 he is one of the younger candidates to launch a bid for the Oval Office and is more than three decades younger than his main rivals President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis himself is expected to officially declare his intentions in a live-streamed event with Elon Musk, held on Twitter.
The long-anticipated start of his White House campaign will be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is close to Musk.
Musk confirmed on Tuesday that he would be interviewing DeSantis in the live audio-only event, adding that the governor has ‘quite an announcement to make’.
Musk added that, at this time, he himself is not planning to endorse a particular candidate.
‘But I’m interested in X/Twitter being a public town square where more and more organizations host content and make announcements on Twitter,’ Musk said.
Father-of-three DeSantis’ campaign will then release another campaign video, and he is then expected to start touring states early in the primary process after Memorial Day.
The blockbuster announcement also coincides with DeSantis meeting with donors in Miami. NBC first reported the news of the governor’s anticipated announcement.
Former President Donald Trump, who announced his reelection bid last November, has already come out swinging against DeSantis.
Trump posted on Truth Social following reports that the governor is poised to officially enter the race, promoting stories including a piece by American conservative TV host Wayne Root titled ‘Ron DeSantis, Please STAND DOWN for the good of the GOP and America.’
The former president also shared a YouTube poll that showed Trump ahead of DeSantis by 53 points.
Trump previously urged DeSantis not to run against him in 2024 because he’s not doing well in the polls, would divide the Republican party and ‘lose the cherished and massive’ MAGA vote.
But according to recent polls, DeSantis is still firmly in second place over the likes of other announced GOP primary candidates Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
In some states, Trump has a double-digit lead over DeSantis, who dismissed talk of a White House run as long as the Florida legislature was in session.
The ex-president has also called DeSantis “young” and suggested that he might have a more bright political future if he remains governor of Florida to the end of his second term in 2026.
It was widely expected that DeSantis would officially enter the 2024 race once his state’s legislative session ended at the beginning of May.
During the session, he has signed a six-week abortion ban, expanded a bill outlawing teaching gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools and cracked down on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investments.
Tougher immigration laws and carrying concealed weapons without a permit have also been approved into law under the governor’s leadership.
Away from his work in Florida, he has been traveling the country promoting his book ‘The Courage to Be Free’ and visited early states in the primary including Iowa and New Hampshire.
On Monday night he showed off his potential White House credentials by teasing he would pick a seventh conservative Supreme Court justice.
He also hinted that he would be in office for eight years.