DeSantis, 44, has formally announced his presidential campaign, making him the latest challenger to former US President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination.
The Wednesday announcement came via Twitter, with the Florida governor vowing he would be running in order to "lead our Great American Comeback."
It was not long after the tech setback that various figures began to drag the big announcement, including US President Joe Biden's team, which tweeted "this link works" in connection to a donation site for his reelection campaign.
During the live event, DeSantis indicated that the US must strengthen its forces along the US-Mexico border, the US constitutional government must stop being run by "unelected bureaucrats" and return to being run by elected representatives representing the US public, and that Biden lacks vigor and is struggling to deal with current challenges.
"Our president, while he lacks vigor, flounders in the face of our nation's challenges and takes his cues from the woke mob," DeSantis said. "I don't think it has to be this way. American decline is not inevitable, it is a choice, and we should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalization."
In what appeared to be a jab at Trump, DeSantis noted that governing should be about delivering results rather than about entertainment or building a brand.
DeSantis’ Record
The Florida governor has held his office since 2018, when he narrowly defeated Democratic rival Andrew Gillum in a controversial election victory that critics said was skewed by the GOP’s suppression of the votes of former felons using a “poll tax.”
That set DeSantis on a collision course with the Walt Disney Company, which is an anchor of the Orlando economy and has in recent years prized itself on its commitment to diverse casts, including LGBTQ characters.
After the company committed to fighting to overturn an education law known colloquially as “Don’t Say Gay,” DeSantis sought to revoke Disney’s autonomy over its properties - efforts that so far have failed. When the company posted big losses in 2022, his office gloated.
Born in Jacksonville, DeSantis attended Yale and Harvard Law School before joining the US Navy in 2004 and becoming a legal adviser to SEAL Team One. In 2006, he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay where, according to Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi, who was detained there without charge, DeSantis allegedly oversaw forced feedings and other torture practices.
Rivalry With Trump
Despite having been a close supporter of Trump, their relationship soured after DeSantis began to emerge in late 2022 as a favorite of the Rupert Murdoch-owned conservative media outlets amid Trump’s compounding scandals and lawsuits.
Trump has since attacked DeSantis as a bumbling and self-righteous fool, labeling him a “flameout” and “Ron DeSanctimonious.” Still, the Florida governor is highly popular with Republican voters in Florida and across the country.
DeSantis has described Trump’s criticisms of him as “background noise.”
Other candidates in the race for the GOP nomination include former US ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; Dallas businessman Ryan Binkley; media personality Larry Elder; former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson; Michigan businessman Perry Johnson; New York investor and author Vivek Ramaswamy; and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.