Amid growing chatter about his political future and in the face of recent outbursts directed at an increasingly troubled Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis rarely engages in speculation or mudslinging. He insisted a declaration of victory in his bid for a second term is needed to precede any talk of 2024.
On Tuesday night, that statement came in the form of a 19-point landslide victory over Democrat Charlie Crist — the most lopsided victory by a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Florida history and a margin that dwarfed Trump’s own victory in the Sunshine State in 2020. Within minutes of When the polls closed, DeSantis’ election night party in Tampa erupted into euphoria as the fullness and scope of his sonorous performance began to crystallize. De Sandys had turned once solidly blue counties red, won a majority of Latino voters, and worn down Republican candidates up and down the ballot and in every corner of the state.
“Not only have we won the election, we’ve rewritten the political map,” DeSantis told supporters before confetti fell on him and his family. Some in the crowd urged him to consider a White House offer, chanting, “Two more years!”
The Florida result was a bright spot for Republicans, who had otherwise been waiting for a red wave that never arrived and watched Trump-backed candidates falter in key battlegrounds. And the backlash within the GOP has further fueled DeSantis’ push to run for president and take on Trump head-on next year.
“DeFuture,” read Wednesday’s front page in the New York Post, owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Republicans are particularly encouraged by the result in Latino Miami-Dade County, where De Sandys won 55 percent of the vote, for what it may indicate about the governor’s ability to engage and message Latinos in the whole country. A GOP gubernatorial candidate hadn’t won the county in two decades. A CNN exit poll showed DeSantis with an 18-point lead over Crist among Florida’s Latino voters, a turnaround from his first gubernatorial campaign four years ago.
Inside Florida, DeSantis’ allies are already confused about what’s next. Even before Election Day, there was a strong sense among those in his orbit that DeSantis would likely launch a presidential campaign regardless of whether Trump did the same. Multiple sources told CNN that DeSantis in recent months has privately suggested to donors that Trump’s divisiveness is an obstacle to implementing conservative priorities, a marked shift in how the governor has discussed his former ally.
After Tuesday, more Republicans have come out suggesting that the former president’s influence is dragging the GOP down. A source close to DeSantis’ political operation told CNN he expected the governor to make a decision “shortly after the inauguration” in January, though he may not make it public.
DeSantis, the source added, “needs to take action” and capitalize on Trump’s midterm setback.
“There’s no way to deny that Donald Trump was fired on Tuesday night,” Georgia Lt. Gov. Jeff Duncan, a Republican who has been critical of Trump, told CNN on Thursday. “The search committee brought a few names to the top of the list and Ron DeSantis is one of them. I think Ron DeSantis is being rewarded for a new thought process with the Republicans and that solid leadership.”
However, the timing of a campaign launch in 2024, if it happens, remains up in the air. When reports first surfaced that Trump intended to launch his presidential campaign in mid-November, those in DeSantis’ circle braced for the possibility of a quick transition from a midterm to a presidential primary showdown. Now, several Florida advisers say DeSantis likely won’t officially enter the presidential field until after state lawmakers meet for their annual legislative session. That would put DeSantis on a timeline of a May or June announcement.
“Build the anticipation,” said a longtime Republican fundraiser with knowledge of DeSantis’ operation. “I think DeSantis controls the time frame. As much as everyone expects things and you want to move quickly, it’s asking you now.”
Even those with access to DeSantis caution that he has not reached a final decision on his future and say he has maintained a tight circle as he weighs his options. The governor’s brain trust is notoriously low. It consists of himself and his wife, Casey. But sources said the DeSantises also know he has a window to make a move in 2024, and even though it widened after Tuesday, it may not stay open forever.
“You’re having a moment,” one GOP pollster told CNN before Election Day. “Something could come up in a second term that will bring him down.”
The intrigue surrounding a potential Trump-DeSandis showdown reached the White House on Wednesday. Asked which of the two Republican rivals would be the toughest competitor in 2024, President Joe Biden remarked, “It would be fun to see them go head-to-head.”
Multiple sources told CNN that DeSantis will orchestrate a legislative session full of conservative priorities that he can carry into the GOP primary. Republicans won super majorities in both houses of the Florida legislature on Tuesday, allowing DeSantis to follow through on his promises to further restrict abortion and make it easier to carry guns in public.
The legislative session will be “as much red meat as you can imagine,” one GOP adviser said. “Whatever he proposes, they will pass and it will become law.”
The Republican fundraiser said that “whatever ‘woke’ they find in their path to kill, they will,” and predicted that financial institutions, in particular, will be a target of DeSantis this spring.
In the meantime, DeSantis will continue to build a political enterprise that has already proven it can raise money at an impressive clip. His re-election bid brought in more than $200 million between his two political committees, according to state campaign finance reports, drawing money from donors and grassroots Republicans to break national fundraising records for a gubernatorial campaign. As of Nov. 3, those committees had $66 million in unspent cash. CNN previously reported that DeSantis’ political team has explored how to transfer the unused money to a federal committee that could support a presidential campaign. That remains the plan, sources confirmed.
He is also expected to continue his out-of-state political trips to raise money and build his brand. After avoiding public events outside of Florida for most of his first term, DeSantis in August made a calculated gamble to hold rallies in support of Republican candidates in some of the nation’s most contested races for governor and U.S. Senate. He continued to travel until 10 days before the elections.
But DeSantis has largely stayed on the midterm battlegrounds and avoided calling early state nominations where appearances can generate presidential buzz. Stephen Stepanek, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, said DeSandi’s political operation had declined multiple requests to address voters there and that the state’s Democratic Party had had “virtually no contact with the governor.” Despite the hype surrounding DeSantis, Stepanek predicted it will be difficult for the Florida governor to top Trump in the nation’s first primary in New Hampshire. Trump’s 2016 primary victory in New Hampshire served as the springboard to win the GOP nomination.
“People not only still have 2020 signs out, they have 2024 signs,” Stepanek said. “It’s still Trump country here in New Hampshire.”
Despite the headwinds since Tuesday, DeSantis nonetheless faces an uphill battle to win over GOP primary voters whose loyalty to Trump has not wavered.
Internally, Republicans are divided but appear to favor DeSantis. While 33 percent of Florida voters want to see Trump run again in 2024, 45 percent said DeSantis should take the plunge, according to preliminary Florida exit poll results conducted for CNN and other news outlets networks from Edison Research.
JC Martin, chairman of the Polk County Republican Party, said it would be a waste for DeSantis to run against Trump because “he still has a lot of work to do in Florida and he’s a 2028 player.”
“I’m not looking for an all-out partisan war in this next primary,” Martin said.
But Shawn Foster, a Republican state commissioner for Pasco County, said the GOP “needs a new face” and hopes it’s DeSantis.
“I think the party needs it and I think independents would be looking for it more,” Foster said.
Nationally, DeSantis must avoid the perception that he’s peaking too soon, a pitfall for countless GOP stars who came before him.
“When people bring up DeSantis today, I bring up Scott Walker,” Bob Vander Plaats, a prominent Iowa conservative leader who had nominated early candidates, told CNN earlier this year, drawing comparisons to his former governor. Wisconsin who was an early favorite in 2016 before his campaign stalled.
Like Walker, DeSantis’ agenda has won over conservative editorial boards and Beltway think tanks. He relishes confrontations with reporters, displaying a brash style similar to that which endeared New Jersey’s Chris Christie to many GOP voters. He has built a fundraising engine that rivals…
