A few months ago, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis finished second to former President Donald Trump as the favorite for the GOP’s 2024 presidential candidate at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
More recently, Trump said he would certainly entertain the idea of DeSantis as a running mate.
But while the right debates whether DeSantis should seek the presidency in his own right, or seek to be Trump’s VP pick, Trump’s former chief of staff doused cold water on the idea that Florida’s chief executive would challenge Trump in 2024.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner that was published on Monday, Mark Meadows said DeSantis has made it “very, very clear” that he wants to the re-elected governor in 2022.
Moreover, DeSantis seems intent on using that race to showcase his “boldness” and “courage” in promoting a conservative agenda, said Meadows.
“Ron DeSantis is identified across the country now for the courage that he shows for conservative solutions, and he would be the first to say that if President Trump gets in, that he would win the nomination and would clear the field, and so I don’t ever see it being a 2016 primary scenario,” Meadows told the Examiner.
“That being said, Gov. DeSantis won’t even — he’s asked over and over and over again every time I’m in his presence — he’s been asked, ‘Are you running in 2024?’ His answer has been consistent: He is running for reelection for governor of the state that not only he loves, but one that is, quite frankly, well run because of his leadership.”
But Florida Republicans are not the only ones excited by a possibility of a DeSantis presidential bid in 2024.
DeSantis slightly outpaced Trump – 74.1 percent to 71.4 percent – in a straw poll conducted at the Western Conservative Summit in Colorado over the weekend. Participants were allowed to select more than one candidate.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz finished third with 42.9 percent.
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