DeSantis to make 2024 campaign official in Miami next week, followed by rally in Dunedin

After months of his presidential ambitions being on full display, Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to make it official next Wednesday.

The governor will file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and formally announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination via video on social media, sources said.

Donors and supporters also are being invited to attend an event at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami on Wednesday and Thursday to make fundraising calls, which are formally allowed only after he files his official paperwork as a presidential candidate.

DeSantis is expected to hold a rally in Dunedin, his hometown, sometime between May 30 and June 1, which Bloomberg first reported and the Miami Herald has confirmed.

Both Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and City of Dunedin spokesperson Sue Burness said Thursday they have not heard anything from the governor’s team about an event.

The announcement has been widely anticipated by DeSantis supporters for months, as former President Donald Trump has increased his attacks on the governor, earning a double-digit lead over DeSantis in most early polls for the Republican primary.

The operatives who steer the “Friends of Ron DeSantis” state political committee, which has more than $85.7 million cash on hand, changed the committee’s name to the Empower Parents PAC earlier this month and disassociated the committee on paper from the governor. The move was seen as a precursor to allowing the money to be transferred to a federal political committee, not directly to a DeSantis campaign.

Although DeSantis is seen as having a fundraising edge over the former president, several top donors have been reluctant to publicly support the governor’s presidential bid, daunted in part by his characterization of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute,” the governor’s escalating fight with Disney, and the six-week abortion ban he signed into law in Florida.

John Thomas, head of “Ron to the Rescue,” a super PAC that has more than $28 million in commitments from donors, said DeSantis has run a traditional exploratory campaign that began with writing a book, followed by a book tour and an attempt to rack up legislative wins. But, he warned, the governor’s traditional strategy may have allowed him to wait too long.

“What’s made it more complicated for the governor is that you have the 800-pound gorilla, which is Donald Trump in this race, so it makes it a riskier strategy,’‘ Thomas said. “The fear I do have for the DeSantis team is that we’ve waited too long to get into the race and that the Republican electorate has hardened around Trump.”

DeSantis may have missed his moment by not getting into the race shortly after his inauguration, when “even hardened Trump supporters were willing to cross over to somebody like DeSantis because of their obsession with winning — and the stinging pain of losing was so fresh,’’ he said.

DeSantis now has “60 to 90 days that will make or break his candidacy,’’ Thomas said. “Everyone talks about this being a marathon and it is, but right now it’s a sprint.”

The “Ron to the Rescue” super PAC has assembled more than 1,000 activists and volunteers around the country to work for DeSantis after his announcement, as well as the donors who are prepared to cut checks when he is officially in the race, Thomas said. The committee will boost his candidacy primarily through paid political ads.

But, Thomas warned, “donors are fickle” and Florida’s governor will have to show some movement in the polls quickly or some of them could get cold feet.

“These early days are going to completely set the tone and define whether or not soft Trump supporters are willing to break and try something new, or they’re gonna go with kind of the comfort food of the past that’s given them mixed results,’‘ he said.

This story was originally published May 18, 2023 at 2:03 PM.