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Florida GovernorĀ Ron DeSantisĀ has officially entered the 2024 Republican Presidential primary. DeSantis made the announcement during a live discussion onĀ Twitter Spaces withĀ Elon Musk.
According toĀ NBC News, aboutĀ 600,000 people tried to listen to the live event, which strained Twitter's servers and caused issues for people trying to listen. Eventually, Musk had to create a second Twitter Space, which only had about 161,000 people listening.
By the time DeSantis made his announcement, roughly 70,000 people were listening.
"I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback," DeSantis said.
"American decline is not inevitable. It is a choice," he added. "And we should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalization."
DeSantis will enter the race in a strong position with a Republican field thatĀ already includes former PresidentĀ Donald Trump, former United Nations AmbassadorĀ Nikki Haley, former Arkansas GovernorĀ Asa Hutchinson, South Carolina SenatorĀ Tim Scott, and entrepreneurĀ Vivek Ramaswamy.
DeSantis is currentlyĀ polling a distant second behind Trump, according to an average of national polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight. Trump continues to have a commanding lead over the other candidates in most polls despite hisĀ recent indictmentĀ in New York andĀ loss in a civil defamation trial filed byĀ E. Jean Carroll.
Trump is polling over 55%, while DeSantis is sitting at 21%. Every other candidate or potential candidate is polling under 10%. None of those polls were conducted before DeSantis made his bid for the White House official.