WASHINGTON — Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign team is quickly taking shape with the Florida governor lining up trusted aides to helm an expected presidential bid, according to people familiar with his plans.
DeSantis is expected to appoint Generra Peck as campaign manager and director, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. Peck earned the trust of both DeSantis and his wife, Casey, who remains his most influential political adviser, by running his successful gubernatorial campaign last year. DeSantis cruised to a landslide 19-percentage point victory over Democrat Charlie Crist.
Florida pollster Ryan Tyson, who runs his own agency in Tallahassee, will also play a key role as a campaign strategist as DeSantis seeks to translate his conservative record in the state capital into policy proposals for a national audience. Tyson will be responsible for all internal polling.
Heather Barker is expected to run the finance operation, with Tucker Obenshain as her deputy. Phil Cox, a longtime GOP operative, is likely to sign on as a consultant. Similar to Peck, the three were important staffers on DeSantis’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign.
The DeSantis team is also preparing to unveil its super PAC to court donors and begin raising money before he officially announces his candidacy. DeSantis, 44, is expected to declare once the Florida legislative session ends. Allies expect that announcement in late May or early June.
DeSantis is expected to join a potentially crowded Republican primary field heading into 2024, as a raft of governors, former top Trump officials and even the ex-vice president challenge former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination.
At stake is the future of the party as each candidate weighs how to best connect with voters on everything from economics to trade to foreign policy as well as the tone and tenor of campaign events. Whoever triumphs will need to both appeal to the GOP base, 30% of which still firmly sticks with Trump, and those who would like the party to move onto new leadership. While DeSantis currently polls well with GOP voters, his critics argue he has not been tested before the national media yet, or with voters in key early states like Iowa or New Hampshire.
A DeSantis press representative did not respond to a request for comment.
Packed schedule
DeSantis has been running what amounts to a nascent presidential campaign even as he delays a formal announcement.
The governor has appeared at numerous donor conferences, including one recently for the conservative Council for National Policy, and has met with House GOP lawmakers — all without the scrutiny an official presidential campaign inevitably brings. That strategy has allowed DeSantis to build his national exposure before friendly audiences while minimizing criticism.
At home in Florida, DeSantis is also pursuing an aggressively conservative legislative agenda to enhance his standing with the GOP base, including a bill that would allow residents to carry concealed firearms in public without a permit.
At a press conference on Tuesday, he again deflected when pressed on his presidential intentions. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he told a reporter, who asked if DeSantis planned on following Nikki Haley’s announcement that she is running for president.
Next weekend, DeSantis’s team is hosting a three-day retreat for roughly 150 to 200 donors in Palm Beach — the same city where Trump lives half of the year and has based his presidential campaign.
The retreat will include presentations on Florida’s voter demographics, the governor’s record and agenda and a diagnosis of the successes and failures of his most recent campaign, according to one person briefed on the agenda. The goal is to excite donors about a DeSantis presidential campaign and give them face time with the candidate and his team.
Next week, DeSantis is expected to visit Chicago, where he will speak before a police union. DeSantis is also scheduled to speak to Republican donors in Dallas and Houston the first weekend in March. Other trips next month include events in Southern California and Alabama.
The governor and his team are also speaking with national consultants, who they may eventually bring aboard the campaign to assist Peck, and identifying operatives in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.
GOP frontrunners
The Republican primary has gotten off to a slow start, with only Trump and Haley as declared candidates.
Several other Republicans are trying to woo donors and gauge voter interest, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
Polls show DeSantis and Trump as the clear frontrunners for the GOP nomination with no other potential candidates generating the same level of excitement.
A February Monmouth University poll showed both Trump and DeSantis garnering 33% of Republican and GOP-leaning voters. In a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, DeSantis outpolled Trump 53% to 40%.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed Trump the top choice of 42% of GOP voters to 36% for DeSantis, but with a smaller Republican field, DeSantis was close to even.
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(Bloomberg News writer Felipe Marques contributed to this story.)
