DeSantis announces 2024 Presidential election campaign

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his 2024 bid for the US presidency on Wednesday. News earlier in the day indicated that DeSantis had officially filed the relevant paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). 

DeSantis has formally announced his presidential campaign, making him the latest challenger to former US President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination. The announcement came on Twitter, with a vow from the Florida governor that he would be running to "lead our Great American Comeback."

I’m running for president to lead our Great American Comeback. pic.twitter.com/YmkWkLaVDg

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 24, 2023

The governor was expected to announce a Twitter Space broadcast with site owner Elon Musk and David Sacks; however, several technical glitches halted the plan from taking place on time as servers appeared to be overwhelmed with more than 600,000 people tuning in.

He was able to voice his bid about 20 minutes after the event was set to start.

During the live event, DeSantis indicated that the US must strengthen its forces along the US-Mexico border, that the US constitutional government must stop being run by "unelected bureaucrats" and return to being run by elected representatives representing the US public, and that Biden lacks vigor and is struggling to deal with current challenges.

Read next: Biden could beat Trump, lose to Ron DeSantis in 2024: Poll
 
"Our president, while he lacks vigor, flounders in the face of our nation's challenges and takes his cues from the woke mob," DeSantis said. "I don't think it has to be this way. American decline is not inevitable, it is a choice, and we should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalization."
 
In what appeared to be a jab at Trump, DeSantis noted that governing should be about delivering results rather than about entertainment or building a brand. 

The Florida Governor was able to run for president only because of a legal change made less than a month ago allowing him to do so.

DeSantis signed the election overhaul bill into law on April 28, which requires candidates to resign from their other offices upon announcing a campaign for a different office, but contains specific caveats for presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Read next: "I was screaming and he was smiling": DeSantis ran Guantanamo torture

DeSantis secured a wide base of endorsements from Iowa lawmakers on Saturday after completing a visit in the early-voting state. About 37 Republican Iowa state senators and representatives have declared their support for DeSantis, according to the Super Pac Never Back Down.

Several other candidates announced they'd be running, including former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley who is somewhat trailing in the polls, while Mike Pence, Trump's former Vice President, is also said to be mulling a run.

Republicans want DeSantis

A national survey on January 26 revealed that Republicans favored DeSantis over former President Donald Trump as their 2024 presidential candidate to run against President Joe Biden by a 28 percent margin.

Some 64 percent of Republicans prefer DeSantis, who won a landslide reelection victory by beating former Florida Governor Charlie Crist last November, over former President Trump, who lost his bid for reelection by Biden in 2020, a press release on the poll said.