Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has officially entered the 2024 Republican Presidential primary. DeSantis made the announcement during a live discussion on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk.
According to NBC News, about 600,000 people tried to listen to the live event, which strained Twitter's servers and caused issues for people trying to listen. Eventually, Musk had to create a second Twitter Space, which only had about 161,000 people listening.
By the time DeSantis made his announcement, roughly 70,000 people were listening.
"I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback," DeSantis said.
"American decline is not inevitable. It is a choice," he added. "And we should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalization."
DeSantis will enter the race in a strong position with a Republican field that already includes former President Donald Trump, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
DeSantis is currently polling a distant second behind Trump, according to an average of national polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight. Trump continues to have a commanding lead over the other candidates in most polls despite his recent indictment in New York and loss in a civil defamation trial filed by E. Jean Carroll.
Trump is polling over 55%, while DeSantis is sitting at 21%. Every other candidate or potential candidate is polling under 10%. None of those polls were conducted before DeSantis made his bid for the White House official.