Ron DeSantis to announce presidential bid in Twitter Space with Elon Musk

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is about to announce he’s operating for president in a dialog with Twitter proprietor Elon Musk, NBC News reported Monday.

The announcement will happen throughout a Twitter Spaces occasion on Wednesday at 6PM ET, and David Sacks, former PayPal product chief and tech investor, will reportedly reasonable the dialogue. Shortly after, the DeSantis marketing campaign is predicted to put out a proper marketing campaign launch video earlier than taking to the marketing campaign path after Memorial Day.

Lindsey Curnutte, a DeSenatis spokesperson, confirmed the occasion in an e mail to The Verge Tuesday. Twitter responded to a request for remark Tuesday with the corporate’s customary poop emoji auto-reply.

DeSantis’ deliberate announcement comes as his polling numbers towards former President Donald Trump have faltered. According to a current Morning Consult ballot, DeSantis is at the moment polling at 20 p.c of GOP major voters, practically 15 p.c decrease than his December 2022 numbers.

Since taking on Twitter in November 2022, Musk has garnered vital help amongst Republicans who’ve spent the previous few years accusing social media corporations of wrongfully censoring conservative content material and customers. Throughout his presidency, Trump championed these criticisms and was finally banned from mainstream platforms, together with Twitter, following the lethal January sixth riot on the US Capitol. Shortly after taking on the corporate, Musk restored Trump’s Twitter account after posting a ballot asking his followers for enter on the choice. “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted on the time.

Popular conservative commentators, like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have began transferring their content material to Twitter. On Tuesday, Axios reported that The Daily Wire was bringing all of its podcasts over to the platform by the top of this month.

According to NBC News, Musk has identified DeSantis for the reason that pair met at a celebration in Austin, Texas. Both are reportedly shut with Sacks, the moderator for Wednesday’s Twitter occasion. It’s unclear whether or not Musk plans to endorse DeSantis, regardless of suggesting he would again the Florida governor final yr. On Friday, Musk tweeted “great statement,” in response to current GOP presidential contender Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) marketing campaign announcement.

Update May twenty third, 3:13PM ET: A DeSantis spokesperson confirmed the occasion.