DeSantis kicks off presidential campaign, signalling plans to go harder on Trump

Florida governor Ron DeSantis kicked off a multistate campaign blitz aimed at establishing himself as the Republican Party’s leading next-generation culture warrior while bolstering his place as Donald Trump’s chief rival (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Wed, 31 May, 2023 - 03:56

Hannah Fingerhut, Thomas Beaumont and Steve Peoples, Associated Press

Florida governor Ron DeSantis kicked off a multistate campaign blitz aimed at establishing himself as the Republican Party’s leading next-generation culture warrior while bolstering his place as Donald Trump’s chief rival.

In a fiery speech in Iowa during his first campaign event for the 2024 GOP nomination on Tuesday, he called American decline avoidable and offered himself as its alternative.