Ron DeSantis to announce 2024 US presidential bid on Twitter with Elon Musk by his side

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce his 2024 US presidential bid on Wednesday (May 24) during a live Twitter event with Elon Musk, news agency AFP reported citing a source familiar with his plans. DeSantis is the leading Republican rival to Donald Trump.

Twitter CEO Musk spoke via video link about the upcoming interview with DeSantis. He said, "We'll be interviewing Ron DeSantis, and he has quite an announcement to make and it will be the very first time that something like this is happening on social media and with real-time questions and answers, not scripted. So it's going to be live and let it rip. Let's see what happens."

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"I'm not at this time going to endorse any particular candidate, but I am interested in X/Twitter being somewhat of a public town square," Musk added.

"And I do think it's important that Twitter hasboth the reality and the perception of a level playing field of a place where all voices are heard and where there's the kind of dynamic interaction that you don't really see anywhere else," he added.

"My preference and I think the preference of most Americans is really to have someone fairly normal in office. But I think we'd all be quite, quite happy with that, actually. You know, I think someone that is representative of the moderate views that I think most country holds, in reality," he further noted.

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The news was first reported by NBC News and the report mentioned that the announcement is apparently scheduled to take place at 6:00pm ET on Twitter Spaces.

The event is said to be moderated by tech entrepreneur David Sacks and the report mentioned that the users of the micro-blogging site can participate in audio conversations.

The campaign will release a launch video that evening, and DeSantis will begin touring several early states after Memorial Day.

It's unclear whether Musk would publicly endorse DeSantis on Wednesday, NBC News reported citing another source that his presence is seen as a clear indicator of support for DeSantis among staff.

Who is Ron DeSantis?

Last November, the 44-year-old DeSantis defeated Democratic candidate Charlie Crist by over 20 percentage points with 98% of the projected vote counted.

He has enraged former president Donald Trump, who even dubbed him "Ron De-Sanctimonious". President Joe Biden referred to DeSantis as "Donald Trump incarnate" in his harshest remarks yet against the governor. Click Here to read the profile of Ron DeSantis

(With inputs from agencies)

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