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DeSantis to officially announce his candidacy for president at 6 p.m. Wednesday [1]

['Mitch Perry', 'More From Author', '- May']

Date: 2023-05-23  

It’s about to be official: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce his candidacy for president of the United States at 6 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, according to multiple media outlets.

It’s not exactly clear where DeSantis will physically be.

But a meeting of his top financial backers has been scheduled in Miami at the Four Seasons for May 24-25. By law, DeSantis cannot ask for contributions for a presidential campaign unless he has formally declared his candidacy, according to the Federal Election Commission.

DeSantis is also expected to submit his paperwork to the FEC at that time. A campaign video promoting DeSantis’ candidacy will also be released around the same time.

NBC News was the first news agency to report the story at exactly 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

NBC reports the DeSantis will have a conversation with Elon Musk on what’s called Twitter Spaces — that’s a way to have live conversations on Twitter — and will be moderated by David Sacks, a venture capitalist and tech executive.

“We are interviewing – Ron DeSantis – and he has quite an announcement to make,” Musk said on Fox News this afternoon. “And will be for the first time that something like this is happening on social media, and with real time questions and answers. Not scripted.”

Last November, Musk said he would support DeSantis if he were to run for president. “My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would (be) the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far,” Musk tweeted on Nov. 25 of last year. When asked by a follower if he would support DeSantis in 2024, Musk replied, “Yes.”

In addition, Fox News reports that DeSantis’ first national TV interview as a presidential candidate will take place on Fox News Channel at 8 p.m. Eastern with Trey Gowdy.

Following DeSantis’ announcement, he will be able to receive contributions for his own official campaign account.

As to the other money situation for DeSantis’ presidential campaign, there’s a political committee now that has been changed from Ready for Ron to Ready to Win, according to a press release on Tuesday. There’s also a federal super PAC — Never Back Down — that has been established with the FEC, independent of DeSantis.

As the Phoenix reported last week, the DeSantis team intends to transfer approximately $86 million left over from his state political action committee to his federal super PAC, Never Back Down. That PAC already has at least $33 million.

That original state PAC, originally called “Friends of Ron DeSantis,” was originally created for his first run for governor in 2018 and was used again for his 2022 reelection campaign for governor.

There is a question whether he can legally transfer that state money into a federal pot, according to campaign finance experts.

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[1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/05/23/desantis-to-officially-announce-his-candidacy-for-president-at-6-p-m-wednesday/

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