Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last November was greeted with chants of ‘Two More Years’ when he addressed his supporters after winning his reelection bid. This meant that his supporters wanted him to run for the White House.
A crusader for the right in America’s often polarising culture wars, DeSantis is seen as an antidote to the so-called ‘woke mob’, who according to him and his supporters and most of MAGA America feel that the academic and government institutions are introducing sex education and LGBTQIA+ agenda and critical race theory to radicalise American children.
They also believe that if not for DeSantis, the ‘woke mob’ led by the Democrats will come for their guns and Second Amendment rights.
DeSantis said after his Florida win: “This is where woke comes to die”. And on Tuesday, when he announced that he will formally kick off his presidential campaign for the 2024 elections with Elon Musk, Twitter CEO, his supporters had a lot to cheer about.
Early Life and Political Ascent
The 44-year-old Florida governor served mostly in the public sector. After pursuing his education at Harvard Law School, he became an officer in the US Navy and subsequently served as an attorney in the Judge Advocate General Corps upon completing his studies.
He was assigned to the military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he assumed responsibility for overseeing detainee treatment. He was also sent to Iraq to provide guidance to a Navy SEALs team.
He also served as an assistant US attorney in Florida, DeSantis embarked on a successful campaign for a seat in the US Congress in 2012. He served in Congress until he was elected governor in 2018.
A separate report by the BBC says he continues to serve in the US Navy reserves.
He became a leading figure in the American right when he started lifting Covid mask mandates and protocols even when cases rose. But his handling of Covid earned national praise and his decision to reopen schools and public places, like beaches and restaurants also helped him garner support.
DeSantis has been a strong advocate for passing legislation in the state legislature to prohibit the teaching of “Critical Race Theory” and gender identity concepts in public schools.
He has been embroiled in a legal battle with Disney over the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law which the international family entertainment and media enterprise and they have sued each other in several litigation cases.
DeSantis has exercised his power by shaping legislation, silencing his critics and strategically appointing his allies to key positions in Florida’s courts, offices, and boards.
Many political analysts in the state capital consider him to be the most influential and ‘feared’ governor in the history of Florida, a report by Reuters said.
Under his leadership, Florida made changes to the special district responsible for managing the development of the area surrounding Disney World.
This includes the theme parks, hotels, and entertainment venues.
As a result, Governor DeSantis gained the authority to appoint members to the district’s governing board, taking away this power from the landowners within the 25,000-acre district, with Disney being the largest landowner.
Governor DeSantis has taken steps to broaden gun rights and strengthen the death penalty in Florida.
He has implemented strict measures to address illegal immigration and passed a bill prohibiting most abortions after six weeks.
He once said that he is committed to protecting the value of human life and aims to make Florida a pro-family state.
Ties with Trump and Chances
There was a time when former US President Donald Trump and the Florida governor were close. A report by the BBC narrates an incident where DeSantis is seen playing with children using kids’ building blocks and telling them to playfully to ‘Build The Wall’, Trump’s war cry to resolve the border crisis in the US.
He was also seen reading to his son Mason: “Then Mr Trump said ‘you’re fired!’
However, the feeling of bonhomie dissipated once DeSantis started signalling that he might run for the US President. Trump started taking potshots at DeSantis by first calling him ‘DeSantimonious’ and then saying that without his support the 44-year-old would not be governor of Florida.
“I got him elected. When I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal. If it wasn’t for me, Ron would not have been elected governor,” Trump said, reflecting the view of neutrals among America’s political observers who feel that before the rise of the conservatives, DeSantis was not a familiar name.
And this is showing when it comes to recent polls indicating that DeSantis is still trailing behind the former president in terms of popularity among US Republicans. Surveys conducted in mid-May 2023 reveal a gap of 28 to 45 percentage points between them.
However, he will announce his run in Twitter Spaces and SpaceX, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in November last year that he will support DeSantis over Trump.
DeSantis is not concerned that he is lagging behind Trump in polls, he believes that his fight is against the US President Joe Biden.
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