Senate Republicans are growing impatient with having to wait for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to decide whether or not he will be joining the presidential race in 2024.
DeSantis is not expected to announce his decision before the end of the Florida legislative session, which is going to be over in early May. However, many Republicans fear that this delay in the announcement could result in DeSantis losing some of the political momentum that he gained after the 2022 midterm elections in November.
Apart from that, many are concerned about the GOP primary field growing before DeSantis joins the race, which could affect DeSantis’ rates of support more than it would Trump’s who has consistently held on to 25-30 percent of Republican voters.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) speculated that DeSantis would run, but that his focus currently is in the Florida legislative session. She added that DeSantis’ attention right now is on Florida issues. Following DeSantis’ reelection victory in November, Lummis had called him “the leader of the Republican Party.”
Lummis predicted that once the session is over DeSantis will face a lot of pressure to join the GOP primary, especially as most GOP lawmakers are hoping for a very competitive primary.
Until DeSantis jumps into the race, many other Republicans will have the chance to join the race and gain momentum. This is an opportunity that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley already took last week, gaining the attention of many news cycles with her calls for new leadership and for politicians over 75 to have to take a mandatory competency test.
