Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis is believed to be on the verge of announcing his bid to become the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, placing him in direct competition with Donald Trump.
Many American conservatives see Mr DeSantis as a natural successor to Mr Trump’s brash brand of populist politics, with the younger man staking out territory for himself as an anti-woke cultural warrior in recent years, pushing back against social restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, clamping down on LGBT+ rights in schools and even battling the mighty Walt Disney Company in Orlando.
