Billionaire Elon Musk said on Friday that he would support Ron DeSantis in 2024 if the Florida governor, who was recently elected to a second term, were to run for president.
DeSantis defeated Democratic opponent Charlie Crist by nearly 20 percentage points earlier this month to re-elect as Florida governor and cements himself as the Republican Party's top rising star.
Political pundits have been praised by DeSantis, who is seen as a potential challenger to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 field of Republican presidential candidates. Trump announced he would be running for the election in 2024, and he announced that he was running again 10 days ago.
I am a sensible and centrist. My preference is for the 2024 presidency. Musk said on Twitter that I had hoped that would be the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far.
He replied in a tweet when asked if he would support DeSantis in 2024.
As a reminder, I was a strong supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and reluctantly voted for Biden over Trump, the Twitter owner said.
Musk had previously said in June that he was leaning towards supporting DeSantis for president in 2024, and added that the Florida governor would easily defeat Biden in the election.
When asked about Musk's support then, DeSantis joked, I welcome support from African-Americans, what can I say. Musk, who is white, grew up in South Africa.
DeSantis is particularly popular with conservatives for taking the lead on culture war issues regarding race and gender. His governorship has been marked by his rejection of pandemic-related health restrictions, passage of a law limiting discussion of LGBTQ issues in schools, and a feud with Walt Disney over the law.
Musk urged Americans to elect a Republican Congress in the midterm elections earlier this month to counterbalance Biden's Democrats.
The Democrats were unable to beat Republican hopes for a red wave in the midterms and retained control of the Senate while Republicans won only a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.