Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is planning to announce the start of his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday in a live audio conversation on Twitter with Elon Musk, the platform’s polarizing owner, according to people with knowledge of his plans.
Mr. DeSantis’s entry into the Republican primary race against former President Donald J. Trump has been widely expected, but the decision to do so with Mr. Musk adds a surprising element and gives Mr. DeSantis access to a large audience online. NBC News first reported the plans.
The event on Twitter Spaces is planned for 6 p.m. Eastern. Mr. DeSantis is expected to later appear on Fox News in an interview with Trey Gowdy, a former congressman from South Carolina, according to the network.
Mr. Musk appeared to confirm the news on Tuesday by retweeting a Fox News reporter who had shared news of the planned Twitter Space with Mr. DeSantis. The governor has also gathered donors on Wednesday at the Four Seasons in Miami.
The conversation with Mr. Musk will be moderated by David Sacks, a Republican donor who is a DeSantis supporter and close to Mr. Musk.
Mr. Musk has said he voted for President Biden in the 2020 election, but has since been critical of him and his administration, which has a frosty relationship with Tesla, his electric car company. The billionaire has said it is difficult for Mr. Biden to stay in touch with voters at the age of 80.
When asked about Mr. Biden in an interview on CNBC last week, Mr. Musk said he just wanted “a normal human being” to lead the country.
“It’s not simply a matter of, Do they share your beliefs?” he said. “But are they good at getting things done?”
While Mr. Musk has called himself a moderate who has voted for Democrats in the past, he has shifted his support in recent years toward the right. On Twitter he has engaged with and shared right-wing conspiracy theories, including one about the October attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Mr. Musk called the Democratic Party one of “division & hate” and said he would vote for Republican candidates. The Daily Beast later reported that Mr. Musk did not cast a ballot in the midterms.
Mr. Musk has not been shy in voicing his support for Mr. DeSantis, and did so multiple times last year. Last July, Mr. Musk tweeted that the Florida governor would “easily win” if matched up against Mr. Biden in 2024. And in November he responded in the affirmative when asked by a Twitter user if he would support Mr. DeSantis in that year’s election.
Last summer, when Mr. DeSantis was asked about Mr. Musk’s potential support, the Florida governor cracked: “I welcome support from African Americans. What can I say?” (Mr. Musk is white and from South Africa.)
Over the years, Mr. Musk has donated to both Republican and Democratic politicians, but in relatively small amounts. His largest contribution was $50,000 to the 2015 re-election campaign of Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, the brother of a friend, the businessman Ari Emanuel.
In Florida, Mr. DeSantis has supported legislation intended, in his words, to protect people against “Silicon Valley elites.”
This year, Florida legislators passed a bill that allows consumers to opt out of sharing their online data with big tech companies, among other privacy measures. This so-called Florida Digital Bill of Rights applies only to companies that make more than $1 billion in “global gross annual revenues.”
Mr. DeSantis has also criticized Silicon Valley companies for their efforts to remove misinformation from their platforms, which he has likened to an assault on free speech and truth undertaken in concert with government officials.
“You’ve seen the administrative state collude with big tech to censor truthful information, whether it’s people attacking Covid lockdowns, whether it’s them questioning the efficacy of masks or school closures,” Mr. DeSantis said in an April speech to the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank. “There was a concerted effort for big tech companies to do what government is never permitted to do directly.”
He has also privately called for Google to be broken up, according to a report in ProPublica — putting him in agreement with some liberal critics of big tech.
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