Reports: DeSantis will soon announce presidential bid Erdogan’s opponent wants to “send all refugees home”

In the race for the White House, there are increasing signals that prominent American Republican Ron DeSantis wants to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election next week. The 44-year-old is expected to submit the relevant documents for a planned fundraising campaign, several US media outlets reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. It is likely that DeSantis will release a video as part of his filing.

According to polls, DeSantis is currently one of the most promising Republican candidates next to former President Donald Trump. Trump had already announced in November that he would participate in the presidential race for the 2024 election. The 76-year-old is leading in internal party polls. DeSantis has been governor of the southern US state of Florida since early 2019. He has long been considered Trump’s biggest internal party competitor, having been Trump’s mentor of sorts years ago.

In Florida, DeSantis mainly attracted attention with a right-wing hardliner politics. Under him, laws and regulations were passed or initiated in the state that discriminate against minorities, curtail academic freedom at universities, or disrupt public education by prohibiting education. Above all, the Republican has declared war on so-called wakeness. The term ‘wake up’ means something like ‘to be awake’ and initially referred to racial discrimination. Now conservatives in the United States use it in a derogatory way, complaining that they think the fight against various forms of discrimination has gone too far.

The presidential election is scheduled for November 5, 2024. A broad field of participants is expected for the Republicans. Alongside Trump and DeSantis, former U.S. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has made her ambitions official so far — but she’s trailing far behind in polls. Who ultimately wants to become the official candidate of the party must first win the internal party primaries. US President Joe Biden is running for re-election by the Democrats and as an incumbent is unlikely to face serious competition in the election campaign within the party. (sda/dpa)