After months of speculation, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis filed paperwork to officially run for President of the United States on Wednesday afternoon ahead of formally announcing he was jumping into a crowded GOP primary field that's likely to see even more hopefuls declare candidacy in the weeks and months ahead.
DeSantis' initial pitch came in his first campaign ad targeting President Joe Biden's crisis-plagued administration and contrasting Biden's failures with Florida's successes:
I’m running for president to lead our Great American Comeback. pic.twitter.com/YmkWkLaVDg
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 24, 2023
In a first-of-its-kind campaign announcement, DeSantis made his bid official in a Twitter Spaces conversation with Elon Musk, moderated by David Sacks. DeSantis' initial rollout on Wednesday will also include an interview with Trey Gowdy on Fox News Channel at 8:00 p.m. ET and a conversation with Mark Levin on his radio program at 8:30 p.m. ET.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2023
Twitter Spaces initially crashed on Wednesday evening after hundreds of thousands of users attempted to tune in for DeSantis' announcement and conversation with Musk, but the broadcast was eventually restored without further issues.
"There is no substitute for victory," DeSantis told listeners. "We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party," he added before pledging to "get the job done" and win the 2024 general election if Republicans make him their candidate.
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Even though DeSantis is making his campaign official on Wednesday evening, the Florida governor who sailed to reelection in 2022 by more than 1.5 million votes (or nearly 20 percent) is already polling in a comfortable second place among his GOP rivals.
According to the latest Real Clear Politics average of national GOP primary polls, DeSantis is at 21.1 percent, less than former President Donald Trump's 55.5 percent but more than four times the support for former Vice President Mike Pence (5.0 percent) who sits in third place ahead of Nikki Haley (4.5 percent), Vivek Ramaswamy (3.0 percent), Tim Scott (1.9 percent), Chris Christie (1.4 percent), and Larry Elder (1.0 percent).
Even before DeSantis' announcement conversation with Elon Musk, the mainstream media again made a clown of itself with headlines such as this one from Vanity Fair:
In case you're wondering how far some media have gone insane... pic.twitter.com/U6S3TAHGJk
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 24, 2023
When asked about hit pieces like the above and recent announcements of "travel advisories" from groups such as the NAACP, DeSantis responded by highlighting how Florida is a safer place than other states and cities such as Chicago, calling such action a "political stunt" that shows how leftist organizations are "colluding with legacy media to try and construct a narrative."
Editor's Note: Stay with Townhall.com for more coverage of DeSantis' announcement, reaction from around the political and media spectrum, and analysis of how his candidacy impacts the rest of the GOP primary field.
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