Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to take steps towards launching a 2024 campaign for the White House in the coming weeks.
A report from NBC News cites four unnamed Republican operatives who say DeSantis is preparing a presidential exploratory committee, with an official launch of his campaign to come at a later time.
A mid-May launch of the committee is the current target, but reports indicate that a number of his supporters want him to declare his candidacy by May 11 in order to counter former President Donald Trump's front-runner status for the Republican nomination.
"An imminent launch would help alleviate the compounding anxiety among supporters over DeSantis taking too long to jump into the fray and risking missing his moment," NBC reported.
The sources tell NBC that meetings have been held in Florida with national political vendors over the past few days in anticipation of a campaign launch, with one person calling it "vendors: assemble week."
DeSantis has been coy about his intentions to run for president, a tone he continued Thursday morning when asked about NBC's report.
"There's not been any thing set," the governor said, per NBC, during a press conference in Israel where he currently on an international trade mission. "I've been focused on this mission that we've been doing. We're going to end up making it pretty much around the world by the time we're done. And if there's any announcements, you know, those will come at the appropriate time, but it's not — if anyone's telling you that somehow they know this or they know that, that's just inaccurate, because there's not been any decisions."
DeSantis is considered by many to be Trump's strongest Republican challenger, with several national polls showing him on the former president's heels -- though the divide appears to be growing.
A new Fox News survey among Republican Primary voters shows Trump leads with 53% support, followed by DeSantis at 21%. In March, the same poll showed Trump with 54% and DeSantis at 24%. In February, Trump was favored at 43% with DeSantis at 28%. The next closest challenger is former Vice President Mike Pence, whose been holding at 6% for months.
"Gov. DeSantis is the only Republican who can beat Trump. He is the only Republican who can beat Joe Biden," Dennis Lennox, a Michigan-based Republican strategist who wants to support DeSantis in 2024, told NBC. "A good politician knows when their moment is and they seize the opportunity; there's no question that the door is swinging against DeSantis."
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