Miami, May 16 (EFE).- The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, disappointed on Tuesday the expectations of those who want him to announce soon his intention to compete to be the Republican candidate for the White House in 2024.
An act called in a Protestant church in Broward County (southeast Florida) which he attended surrounded by representatives of the three Florida powers ended without the expected announcement, which some media consider “imminent”.
After months of speculation and also attacks against him by the favorite to win the Republican nomination, former President Donald Trump, DeSantis did not mention the electoral race in an act dedicated to the fight against human trafficking.
According to the Realclearpolitics portal, which compiles all the voting intention polls published each day, Trump has an average advantage of 34.4 points over the second best placed for the primaries, which is DeSantis, who has a 20% support compared to 55% of the former president.
DeSantis was sponsored by Trump in 2018 to reach the governorship of Florida and was re-elected in 2022 by a large majority, which made him a rising figure in the Republican Party, although he has been losing strength since the former president is on the campaign trail and He has returned to his popular rallies.
During today’s press conference, in which after a presentation he only admitted three questions, none of which were related to his candidacy, he once again criticized the Administration of US President Joe Biden for its mistaken immigration policy, as said.
“Joe Biden’s border policy has greatly damaged society,” DeSantis stressed, after recalling that in the last year human trafficking on the southern border of the United States has increased by 50%.
The Republican also pointed out that 72% of the victims of human trafficking in the country last year were immigrants in an irregular situation, which is why, as he stated, “in the last two years we have increased -in Florida- the effort to work against illegal immigration”.
“For this reason, laws” related to immigration were signed, the governor highlighted, after recalling that he will be firm against prosecutors who do not carry out their work in Florida in the application of the law.
DeSantis recalled that he had to suspend a prosecutor in this state for allegedly not doing his job, referring to Andrew Warren, removed for committing not to prosecute cases related to the ban on abortion after 15 weeks of gestation.
In addition to Trump, the former governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of South Carolina and former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and the businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have so far made official their intention to participate in the Republican primaries.
Since his re-election, DeSantis has focused on pushing his ultra-conservative agenda forward with the help of the Florida Congress, which is dominated by the Republican Party and recently passed, before the end of session, a battery of laws making the state one. one of the most conservative in the US
