- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will make his 2024 candidacy official as early as next week, reports say.
- Polling has him second to Trump, who has been living in Florida at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.
- But Trump is leaving Florida for the summer, per his seasonal custom.
The battle between the top-polling candidates for the 2024 Republican nomination won't be centered on two Florida men after all — at least not in the earliest months.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is expected to file paperwork to run for the White House next week, numerous outlets report, making official what political observers saw coming for more than a year. By doing so he'll go up against the GOP frontrunner: a former ally and ex-president.
Donald Trump's permanent residence is in Palm Beach, Florida, at his Mar-a-Lago oceanside estate. But Trump, a snowbird, doesn't stay at the private club year-round because it closes for the summer months when South Florida becomes overwhelmed by humidity and enters its hurricane season.
Trump, 76, typically heads to his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course in the summer and sometimes stays about 45 miles away in Manhattan at Trump Tower. Just like Palm Beach, New York City is another major donor power center.
New Jersey, therefore, is set to become the new go-to spot for the GOP right around the time that the DeSantis campaign kicks off. Trump's move north means a significant portion of the Republican political braintrust will follow.
Trump properties tend to be a draw for GOP fundraisers and other events, and according to Politico the former president has wooed Republican politicians at his properties to gain endorsements.
"It's no secret that people — including Ron DeSantis — have eagerly come to the best properties in the world like Mar-a-Lago to ask President Trump for advice on a wide range of topics," Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign, told Insider. "It further illustrates President Trump's influence and leadership with the movement he and millions of Americans have built from the ground up."
Mar-a-Lago's main club already closed for the season after its annual Mother's Day brunch, but its Beach Club is open until Memorial Day. It reopens for a big party on Halloween.
It's not clear what exact date Trump will leave Mar-a-Lago; his campaign didn't provide a timeline.
But some clues exist. As of Thursday, his private plane, "Trump Force One," was still at the Palm Beach airport, flight records show, and he's set to host the ARAMCO Ladies Championship at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach beginning Friday.
On May 26, Trump will host the Liv Golf Tournament at his Sterling, Virginia, golf course. DeSantis plans to file paperwork to run for president on May 25, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
Last year Trump arrived at Bedminster just after Memorial Day, by June 3. Two years ago, Trump left Mar-a-Lago for the summer on Mother's Day.
Florida is the state where Trump votes (the state's primary is set for March), and he often called Mar-a-Lago the "Winter White House" when he was still in office.
It's been an eventful year for the estate. The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago for classified documents in August 2022, when the club was already closed for the summer and Trump was in Trump Tower. A tropical storm hit the area almost thwarted the November 12, 2022, wedding of Tiffany Trump, the former president's youngest daughter.
Trump also held two major press events in Mar-a-Lago's ornate grand ballroom, one on November 15 announcing his 2024 candidacy and another on April 5 to decry his indictment by the Manhattan district attorney.
DeSantis is on a countdown to run
DeSantis, 44, has been crisscrossing the US for months, holding what many consider to be a "soft campaign" under the auspices of promoting his book, "The Courage to Be Free," at events across the United States.
Turnout at the events has been high, and he raised more than $4.2 million for state and local parties over a two-month period that started in March, according to figures provided to Insider by DeSantis' political operation.
Numerous signs point to the fact that an official DeSantis presidential announcement is now imminent.
On Monday, DeSantis' political team moved to a new office in Tallahassee, NBC News reported. The change could trigger $5,000 in spending, and under federal law DeSantis has 15 days to file FEC paperwork unless it's clear that his political operation is still in the consideration phase. DeSantis cannot ask for donations to a presidential campaign until this happens.
On Friday, DeSantis will head to New Hampshire, a key early primary voting state, after several stops in caucus-first Iowa last weekend. He racked up endorsements from members of the Florida legislature, while Trump scored most of Florida's congressional delegation.
Next week, several news outlets reported, the governor is set to huddle with donors starting May 24 at the luxurious Four Seasons hotel, located in the downtown Brickell area of Miami, which is a financial district.
The DeSantis political operation declined to share details of the governor's plans, including formal rollouts and events that may come later. The governor's hometown of Dunedin, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, is reportedly in the mix.
The Florida legislature in early May wrapped up is lawmaking session that gave DeSantis many of the policy wins he asked for, from loosening gun regulations and making it harder for undocumented immigrants to work in Florida, to striking back at Walt Disney World and chipping away transgender rights.
Florida's legislature produced "more significant policy victories than has ever been produced in one six-month period in the history of our state," DeSantis said during a news event in early May in Brooksville, Florida. "I would put this up against any other state out there."
DeSantis still has to sign the state's budget and an elections law that will ensure he can remain governor of Florida while running for president.
The Guardian first reported that Generra Peck, who successfully ran DeSantis' 2022 gubernatorial reelection campaign, is expected to be his presidential campaign manager. Advisers will include Florida pollster Ryan Tyson and Dustin Carmack, who was a chief of staff to DeSantis when he was in the US House.
DeSantis' support has fallen ever since the Trump indictment, when he came out to publicly insult the former president. Coupled with that is that Trump — who said he views DeSantis as "disloyal" for challenging him after he backed his 2018 gubernatorial bid — has relentlessly and viciously attacked DeSantis for weeks.
To make matters more difficult for DeSantis, major donors told reporters they feared the governor was too right wing. Walt Disney World sued him and President Joe Biden cracked a joke about it at the biggest press event of the year.
Still, he is the only Republican who consistently polls second to Trump in a hypothetical match up. Also, his perch as governor of the nation's third-largest state gives him an opportunity to showcase his governing chops, particularly give that his existing rivals don't currently hold office.
Other candidates in the GOP contest are former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and radio host Larry Elder. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is expected to formalize his run on Monday, and former Vice President Mike Pence may also enter the race.
The experience with the 2016 primary suggests that more candidates in the race benefit Trump, who is more likely to lock down a plurality of voters when the field splinters.
DeSantis has dug at Trump in recent weeks, saying the GOP must "reject the culture of victory that has infected our party," referring to losses in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Trump shot back on Truth Social with polls showing that he is dominating the race and nicknaming him "Rob" after a Daily Mail headline typo.