The prospect of Governor Ron DeSantis running for president in 2024 is continuing to pick up steam, with the Republican now leading all GOP hopefuls, including former President Donald Trump, on PredictIt.
The online prediction market shows DeSantis on the upswing in the lead-up to the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. At the time of this article, the Governor maintains his lead over Trump, trading at 39 cents. DeSantis’s stock has recently seen a surge, climbing 9 cents since May 10.
Likewise, Trump follows close behind, trading at 37 cents. Despite trailing DeSantis, No. 45’s price has remained relatively stable over the past 30 days, reaching a high of 38 cents and a low of 36 cents.
Other notable Republicans behind the duo include Nikki Haley and Mike Pence at 6 cents. Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott sit at the bottom of the list, both trading at 1 cent.
DeSantis overtaking Trump comes as speculation ramps up surrounding the potential matchup between the two GOP heavyweights. While Trump continues to tease a future bid to reclaim the White House, DeSantis has been quiet on his political ambitions, declining on multiple occasions to say whether he would run in 2024. Instead of weighing in, DeSantis has focused his attention on the Sunshine State and his 2022 gubernatorial re-election campaign.
Earlier this month, DeSantis again sidestepped when asked if a 2024 presidential run was on his radar.
“The interesting thing about me is people will always inject my name into it, just based off what I’m doing in Florida,” DeSantis told Fox News. “It’s a little bit different for me. I think there’s obviously people that, the minute 2020 ended, have been basically running, and they’re going around doing all that stuff. That’s just not what I’ve been doing. I’ve just been focusing on the task at hand.”
While DeSantis has been mum on his future in the political arena, Trump has chosen to brandish his sword as chatter inside conservative circles continues to swell about the popular governor being a younger, more refined candidate.
On Monday, Trump said he’s unsure if DeSantis will run in 2024, adding that he believes he will defeat the Florida governor if they both ran for president in 2024.
“I don’t know if Ron is running, and I don’t ask him,” Trump told The New Yorker. “It’s his prerogative. I think I would win.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has been candid about his chances against DeSantis. In an October interview with Yahoo Finance, Trump noted: “If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else.”
Trump also maintains that DeSantis’s political success is a result of the MAGA president playing kingmaker during his 2018 gubernatorial bid.
“Well, I don’t know that he wants to run, you know, I have a good relationship with Ron,” the one-term president said during a Monday night appearance on Newsmax. “But I was very responsible for him getting elected, as you know,”
While neither man has formally declared that they will run in 2024, DeSantis has more than enough firepower in his arsenal to capture the Republican nomination if he does decide to tee up a run for president.
DeSantis recently bested Trump in a conservative group straw poll, snagging 71% of the vote to the former president’s 67%. DeSantis has also proven himself as a fundraising maven, raking in millions in his re-election campaign while attracting major donors who funded Trump’s presidential run.
He also boasts the backing of big names, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk who told his 98 million Twitter followers last Wednesday that he would likely back DeSantis should the Florida governor announce an intent to run.