With his big victory in the midterms of 2022, Ron DeSantis is now a strong potential competitor against Donald Trump, with a view to the Republican nomination for the presidential election of 2024.
The red wave yes, but perhaps not at any price either! At the end of the election night marked by the triumph of Ron DeSantis as Governor of the State of Florida, it was Donald Trump who must have seen red. The former tenant of the White House must have been somewhat disillusioned when he learned that the one who could well become his most faithful competitor in the coming months had won hands down with no less than 20 points in advance (59 .5% of the vote) against the Democrat and former governor of the state between 2007 and 2011, Charlie Crist, the latter having won only 39.9% of the vote. And this, even though in the previous election, Ron DeSantis had passed on the razor’s edge. More than the governorship of Florida, to which he was re-elected on Tuesday November 8 on the occasion of the 2022 midterms, Ron DeSantis has gained solid legitimacy and confirmed his national stature when all eyes are already on the presidential election of 2024.
What is the relationship between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump?
A credible contender for the Republican nomination, Ron DeSantis could thus throw himself headlong into battle against a Donald Trump who is more vehement than ever. The latter has already given him a little nickname as he alone has the secret. After Sleepy Joe – “Joe l’endormi” in French, nickname given to Joe Biden by the Republican billionaire during the presidential campaign in 2020 – here is “Ron DeSanctimonious”, which can be translated as “Ron LaMorale”.
Like Joe Biden, Ron DeSantis contrasted with the fiery and irreverent Donald Trump, who could also announce his candidacy next week, thereby re-shining the spotlight on him. Ron DeSantis, ex-“baby Trump”, is indeed much more polite than his mentor of yesteryear, from whom he seems to have since, little by little, distanced himself.
Who is Ron DeSantis?
Born on September 14, 1978 in Jacksonville (Florida) to a television installer father and a nurse mother, Ron DeSantis went through several of the best establishments in the United States during his schooling. Studying history at the prestigious Yale University (Connecticut), where he was captain of the baseball team for a time, he also studied law at Harvard (Massachusetts) before joining the ranks of the Navy in 2004. Advisor to the Navy Seals special forces, he was notably sent to Iraq. After a brief stint in the Florida federal prosecutor’s team, on his return from Iraq, he entered the 2012 elections as a candidate for the House of Representatives. Elected at 34, he quickly got noticed by Donald Trump, of whom he says the greatest good. It was enough to launch his career.
Now the father of three children, named Madison, Mason and Grandma, this Catholic married to former television journalist Casey DeSantis seems ready to fight his next battle, even if it means dismissing his former mentor? The future will tell. The world reports, in any case, that from a financial point of view, Ron DeSantis would be more than ever in the starting blocks. During his gubernatorial campaign, rumor has it that he raised nearly $200 million, of which some $100 million was unused…