Ron DeSantis’s possible 2024 bid shapes up as political headaches mount

Gov. Ron Desantis‘s (R-FL) potential 2024 presidential aspirations received a big jolt last week as he cleared a major obstacle, and his allies appear to have circled around a timeline for his potential campaign launch.

Not all the developments were positive for the Florida governor, as he was dealt a few political headaches in his home state and in polling against his likely top political rival, former President Donald Trump. Here are some of the big developments last week for DeSantis’s 2024 ambitions.

MEET THE MONEYMEN BEHIND RON DESANTIS AS THE GOVERNOR MULLS TAKING ON TRUMP IN 2024

Pathway toward presidential campaign clears up
Looming over DeSantis’s pathway to the campaign trail for some time was Florida’s “resign to run” law that mandates DeSantis would need to step down from his current position to vie for the presidency.

Winning the GOP nomination is far from a guarantee, especially with Trump as his chief foe, so the law could jeopardize DeSantis’s ability to fallback on the governorship if he loses the primary. Speculation mounted for months that his allies in the Florida state legislature were planning to tweak that law to make a presidential run easier for him.

That came to fruition when both chambers of the Florida legislature advanced legislation to lift the “resign to run” burden on DeSantis. The law was modified in the past two decades, including to make it easier for former Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL), who later became a Democrat when he was considered a possible vice presidential contender.

With that obstacle cleared in the state legislature, DeSantis could soon jump into the 2024 arena without the drawback of having to exit his governor post.

Potential donor troubles
DeSantis was dogged this last week by revelations of top GOP megadonor souring on him. Billionaire radio talk show host and Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis cast aspersions on the governor in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

“Why would I support somebody to become president of the United States that doesn’t return phone calls?” he said while emphasizing that “plenty” of his friends living in Florida that supported DeSantis maintain “the same feelings.”

A report last week from the New York Times also revealed that Hedge fund executive and billionaire Kenneth Griffin was growing uneasy with DeSantis due to his positions on Ukraine and abortion.

Still, DeSantis remains a favorite among the donor class and has over an estimated $110 million war chest stockpiled by his allies ahead of a potential presidential campaign debut, per Politico.

Timeline for 2024 launch revealed?
For weeks, the governor teased that he wouldn’t announce his 2024 plans until after the Florida state legislature concludes its work at the end of next month.

Four operatives told NBC this week that DeSantis is planning to commence an exploratory committee in mid-May, followed by an official announcement shortly thereafter. Sources also told Bloomberg that DeSantis was mulling the first two weeks of June as a launch date.

DeSantis quickly downplayed those reports during a press conference overseas.

“If there’s any announcements, those will come at the appropriate time. But if anyone’s telling you that somehow they know this or they know that, that’s just inaccurate because there’s not been any decisions made,” he said.

Trump dominates in polling
In a considerable setback, the governor’s chief rival surged to a big lead in polling this week. An Emerson College poll found Trump surpassing DeSantis 62% to 16%, one of his largest leads pegged by the group.

The poll encapsulated Trump’s growing edge over his chief rival that has been found across the board. The latest RealClearPolitics aggregate has Trump with a 28.3 percentage point lead over DeSantis, up considerably from the roughly 15.8 percentage point lead, the former president had just before news of his indictment broke.

Trip abroad
Throughout this past week, DeSantis burnished his foreign policy chops as part of a four-country swing overseas, billed as an “international trade mission” to Israel, the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea.

During the trip, DeSantis publicly revealed some of his positions on key foreign policy issues, a topic where he’s been somewhat of an enigma. DeSantis wasn’t the only prominent governor to travel overseas recently as Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) similarly promoted his home state abroad as well.

DeSantis attended the event in Israel Thursday morning as part of a four-country swing overseas, billed as an “international trade mission” on behalf of Enterprise Florida. He is expected to meet with Netanyahu during the trip and has already met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

One big takeaway from DeSantis’s foreign ventures is that he believes the United States needs to take a harder line against China.

“Ultimately, what China respects is strength,” DeSantis told Nikkei Asia. “If you look at where we are at this juncture in the 21st century, what the Soviet Union was to us, that’s really what China represents in terms of the threat to the free world.”

Disney flap
This week, the Walt Disney Company fired back against Desantis in a lawsuit alleging that DeSantis and his allies weaponized government power against the company as “retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint.” The suit centered around the governor’s move to take over the special district that encompasses Disney World.

DeSantis began targeting the company’s special tax district last year after the company publicly assailed the DeSantis-backed Parental Rights in Education Act, which critics denounced as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Over recent weeks, it was revealed that Disney quietly cut deals with the prior board that effectively stripped the new one of much of its power

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The governor moved to nix those deals, which triggered the lawsuit. Ultimately the suit could pose a potential 2024 headache for DeSantis. Already, he has taken fire from 2024 aspirants such as Trump and former United Nations Ambassador and former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) over the flap.

Losing the suit could pose a major embarrassment for DeSantis during the primary.