As the battle for who will win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination barrels through the summer, Gov. Ron DeSantis is hoping that his wife Casey DeSantis will help him win back disaffected suburban female voters and that his relative youthfulness and energy will be enough to break former President Donald Trump's hold over the GOP.
Luntz is referencing DeSantis's Twitter Spaces campaign launch with billionaire Elon Musk and moderator and venture capitalist David Sacks, which began with technical glitches leading to critical headlines. DeSantis allies brushed off the glitches, boasting that the campaign raised $1 million in its first hour and raised $8.2 million within the first 24 hours of launching.
At 44 years old, DeSantis will likely make his youthfulness and the energy it affords as part of his argument that he is the better man for the nomination. DeSantis is decades younger than both Trump, 76, and Biden, 80, and voters have already indicated they are not eager to see a rematch of Trump vs. Biden in 2024.
"Well, isn't it kind of just symbolic about the state of the country? You know, you have a president who lacks energy who's stumped, stumbling around," DeSantis said."And unfortunately, you see an incident like that. But, you know, I'm running for president because we need to change all that. And we need an energetic executive. We need somebody that's going to get in there on day one and spit nails and really take Washington by storm. Washington, D.C.