DeSantis set to enter race for White House next week

Ron DeSantis is expected to enter the US presidential election race next week.

The Florida Governor is likely to become former president Donald Trump’s biggest competitor for the Republican nomination.

Mr DeSantis is set to file paperwork that declares his candidacy on Thursday then is likely to hold a more formal campaign launch on May 29, AP reported.

He has been a favourite target of Mr Trump in recent months, a signal that the former president sees Mr DeSantis as his biggest rival in a growing Republican field.

Mr DeSantis was re-elected as Florida Governor in November, defeating his opponent by more than 20 points. That victory buoyed his prospects of taking the Republican nomination, but Mr Trump’s attacks appear to have damaged Mr DeSantis’s standing in the party.

Mr Trump, who faces several legal investigations, is still the leading candidate among probable Republican hopefuls for next year’s election, according to polling company FiveThirtyEight.

As Governor, Mr DeSantis has employed many of the populist policies that Mr Trump was in favour of while president.

They include opposing mask-wearing guidelines laid out by the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Florida Governor has also criticised Disney, the state’s largest private employer, after the company challenged a state law that restricted the teaching of gender identity in schools.

Mr DeSantis is one of the most prominent opponents of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, going so far as to transport Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Democratic strongholds in the northern US.

He recently announced he would be sending more than 1,000 law enforcement officers to Texas to “secure the southern border”.

He has also attempted to wade into foreign policy, but was forced to backtrack on comments in which he said supporting Ukraine’s defensive efforts against Russia was not in America’s best interests.