Has Ron DeSantis Announced His 2024 Candidacy?: Updates

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Is Ron DeSantis running for president in 2024? The short answer is “Yes.” Insiders say he’s privately discussed his campaign plans “without any caveats that would suggest he’s still deciding.” He’s toured the country to tout his book and his record as Florida governor. He’s visited Iowa and New Hampshire. He’s laid out his foreign-policy vision. He’s received endorsements from elected officials. He’s directly attacked Donald Trump and claimed he could beat President Biden. And Trump has already given him a variety of nasty nicknames.

But technically, the answer is “no” — or rather, not yet. Although it’s obvious that he’ll run in 2024, DeSantis hasn’t formally announced. Politicians have been known to play coy about their presidential ambitions for years, but the governor has dropped some pretty strong hints about when he’ll make things official. Here’s everything we know about the timing of DeSantis’s 2024 campaign announcement.

DeSantis is widely expected to announce his candidacy sometime after the Florida legislative session concludes in May. When asked about his timeline for making a 2024 decision during a February 20 appearance on Fox & Friends, DeSantis said he had “two big things” coming up: his book tour for The Courage to Be Free and the legislative session.

“We’re going to sell some books, we’re going to spread the message of Florida. And then on March 8, I have our legislative session that’s kicking off,” DeSantis said.

He noted that Republicans won supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature in the 2022 midterms and said he’s eager to show what they can do.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” he said. “This is going to be the most productive legislative session we have had across the board, and I think people are going to be really excited. So those are what we’re going to be doing over these next few months as we get beyond that, then we can decide from there.”

The interview concluded with the fawning Fox & Friends hosts urging DeSantis to announce his candidacy right then and there, but he just laughed.

The Florida Legislature meets for 60 consecutive days each year. This year’s session started on March 7 and is set to conclude on May 5. Miami-based Democratic strategist Sasha Tirador predicted that DeSantis could announce anytime after that.

“Once the session is over, he’s going to give a great, big speech on his, quote, ‘accomplishments,’” Tirador told the Washington Examiner. “The banning of books, the banning of drag queens, the banning of whatever comes to mind on that day of the week. He might just go ahead and announce within that speech. But I think he’ll do it right after the legislative session. He can’t afford to wait beyond that.”

There are a few issues related to Florida election laws that could shift DeSantis’s plans. The governor was just reelected to a four-year term, but under the state’s “resign to run” law he’s supposed to step down before he runs for federal office. This probably won’t be a problem for DeSantis. There’s been some debate about whether the law actually applies, and it’s been modified for previous Florida governors eyeing federal office. Republican legislative leaders have said they’d be happy to tweak the rules to make it clear that DeSantis can run for president without giving up his governorship, which is another reason he may be waiting for the end of the current session.

Trump’s allies have also filed an ethics complaint against DeSantis, accusing him of violating Florida ethics and election laws with his “shadow presidential campaign.” Theoretically, the complaint from Make America Great Again Inc., a Trump-supporting super-PAC, could lead to state “fines, public censure, ballot disqualification, removal from office or impeachment,” according to NBC News. But it seems unlikely that the Florida Commission on Ethics will even investigate, as DeSantis appointed five of the nine members.