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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce his intent to run for president of the United States in a conversation with Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk.
On Monday (May 22nd), it was announced that the Republican politician and Musk would host an event on Twitter Spaces, the platform’s audio chat area. The event will take place on Wednesday (May 24th) at 6 P.M. ET. Former PayPal product leader and tech investor David Sacks will moderate the conversation, where it is expected that DeSantis will announce his presidential bid. A DeSantis spokesperson, Lindsey Curnutte, confirmed the event to the press on Tuesday while a confirmation request email to Twitter was met with a poop emoji as a reply.
According to sources, the campaign will release a launch video shortly after the event and there will be visits to several states planned for after Memorial Day. The event comes after weeks of planning between DeSantis’ camp and Musk’s team, with one person close to the negotiations stating that they feel Musk isn’t confident about former President Donald Trump’s chances of winning the White House. “He’s interested in the future, and he’s interested in winning again,” the source confided.
When asked about his participation in the Twitter Spaces and a potential endorsement at a convention held by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday (May 23rd), Musk stated that he wasn’t going to endorse any candidate as of yet. “I think it’s quite groundbreaking that there be a major announcement of this type on social media,” he said. Musk and DeSantis were first acquainted with each other after meeting at a party in Austin, Texas. There is also speculation that Musk’s agreement to take part in this event could be a boost to his SpaceX company finding a home in Florida, which has seen some turbulence after its Starship launch explosion leading to a lawsuit against it and the Federal Aviation Administration by environmental groups.
The news comes as DeSantis has been shown lagging in polling behind former President Donald Trump, nabbing only 20% among GOP primary voters which is 15% behind where he was last December. Republicans have become more enamored of Twitter since Musk’s takeover of the platform last October. Since becoming CEO, Musk reinstated Trump’s account which was suspended after the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol, and has been openly courting conservatives and far-right figures including Tucker Carlson who has been sharing more content on the platform.
