On Wednesday afternoon, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission for his presidential bid. This comes hours before his scheduled 6 pm ET campaign launch announcement alongside Chief Twit Elon Musk, to be held on Twitter Spaces. 

Earlier this week, DeSantis removed reference to Florida from his Twitter handle, leading to speculation that the long-anticipated presidential campaign announcement was coming soon. 

JUST IN 🚨 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis changes his username on Twitter — removes FL as he is expected to enter presidential race this week

(Google cache shows old username) pic.twitter.com/Rj4NR2HKK1

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) May 22, 2023

In September 2021, DeSantis said that he was not considering a presidential run, instead focusing on his re-election as Floridia’s Governor while working on educational and social issues like critical race theory. DeSantis told Sean Hannity:

I’m not considering anything beyond doing my job. We got a lot of stuff going on in Florida. I’m going to be running for reelection next year. We are also working on a lot of things in the state beyond the governor’s race. We got school-board races, I want to make sure people are not supporting critical race theory, making sure that parents have the ability to send their kid to school the way they want to.

After his successful reelection bid for governor last year, he still has approximately $90 million remaining in funds. Additionally, a super PAC that supports him anticipates having a budget of $200 million, with half of the funds allocated for voter outreach in crucial early states. This effort will be bolstered by a team of around 2,600 field organizers.

DeSantis leaned on then-President Trump’s endorsement in his 2018 Gubernatorial campaign, releasing an ad using many MAGA themes. 

Favor and esteem have soured between the former President and Florida’s governor as a contentious primary battle officially takes off.