Ron DeSantis keeps downplaying 2026 race after Byron Donalds launch

Ron DeSantis remains coy about the race to succeed him and First Lady Casey DeSantis’ prospects to win.

During a presser about the Florida State Guard at Camp Blanding, DeSantis was asked about her potential run, saying cryptically, “there’s a lot of possibilities.”

“You have so much time between now and, heck, the filing is what, in 16 months? And the Primaries after that, and then a General Election,” DeSantis said.

After talking about his administration’s priorities for a few minutes, DeSantis returned to the theme.

“We’re making things happen, and I think that really should be the focus, not focusing on things that are a lifetime away with politics,” DeSantis added.

Thursday’s presser was the second time in less than 18 hours that he batted away questions about the First Lady’s potential candidacy’s viability.

“I want to focus today not on the ’26 election, but on vindicating the ’24 election by showing that we’re going to get this job done here. You know, you have these elections and then people start talking about new elections. Why don’t we actually get something done based off the previous election?”

DeSantis made those comments in Homestead during a news conference about immigration.

DeSantis’ demurral in discussing the election to succeed him deviates from recent past practice, when he attacked President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate.

“You got a guy like Byron Donalds; he just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the Left over these last years. He’s just not been a part of it,” DeSantis said earlier this week in Tampa.

The Governor has said the First Lady could take his administration’s accomplishments “to the next level.”

He also has said long-deceased conservative leader Rush Limbaugh endorsed her years ago, as her uncompromising worldview entranced him at a dinner.

“At the end of the dinner, he just put his finger in my chest. He’s like, ‘The only person I would rather have as my Governor than you is her.’ And he pointed at her. And I was like, that’s a pretty good endorsement there.”

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