DeSantis Becomes First Major Party Candidate in South Carolina’s 2024 Presidential Primary Election

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis filed the following documents on Tuesday: south carolinaof Republican Party He won the primary, becoming the first major party presidential candidate to formally join the Southern First ballot.

Mr. DeSantis signed the filing during a stopover at Republican headquarters in South Carolina. Columbiahad supporters on both sides, including state legislators who backed his bid.

The application comes at a pivotal moment for DeSantis and his campaign as Gov. DeSantis runs for the third time in South Carolina as a White House candidate. He entered the race in May with the hope that he would be the biggest threat to the former president. donald trump. But Mr. DeSantis has struggled to keep up with Mr. Trump, who holds a commanding lead in the primary, and recently began laying off his campaign.

He returned to the election hearing on Monday, hosting an event in Tega Cay, a wealthy community on Lake Wylie along the border with North Carolina.

After about 30 minutes of remarks outlining his stump speech, Mr. DeSantis also answered some questions from an audience of about 900 who had gathered to hear him speak. Among the questioners was a woman who described herself as a “hardcore Trump supporter” and said that the 2024 election was “the most important vote for us” and that DeSantis would not be able to claim his candidacy. “I feel like I did a great job,” he said.

In response, DeSantis denounced what he characterized as the “weaponization of the government” in the lawsuit being filed against Trump, and said he would take his own actions after the former president was indicted on federal charges. He repeated a passage that he had refined in his speech.

“I appreciate President Trump’s actions. …he was treated wrongly and unconstitutionally,” DeSantis said. “The problem is here — the problem for us now is what are you going to do about it? Standing up for the Constitution and restoring this country as our Founding Fathers envisioned it.”

Late Tuesday in West Columbia, Mr. DeSantis, a former naval officer who served in Iraq’s Navy Judges Bar, will roll out a plan to reform the U.S. military, which he claims has focused too much on efforts to diversify and include. had a plan.

On Monday night, DeSantis previewed these plans, stating that as commander-in-chief he would “pluck the awakened people” from an army that today is filled with “social experiments, ideologies, awakened agendas, pronouns and drag queens.” rice field. The development was scheduled to take place at the Celebrate Freedom Foundation, along with a rare press conference. Founded by retired military leaders, the nonprofit aims to “honor past aviation pioneers and inspire future aerospace pioneers” through a STEM-supported program for K-12 students. It says on its website that it aims to give

The move marks DeSantis’ second official policy statement on the campaign. In June, while visiting a border city in Texas, he outlined an immigration proposal calling for the abolition of birthright citizenship and the completion of construction of the southern border wall.

South Carolina will hold its Republican presidential primary on February 24. The state also boasts two 2024 homegrown candidates, former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, who are key players and strong endorsements for the Republican presidential nominee. is getting Trump’s base of support in the election campaign so far.

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You can contact Meg Kinnard at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.