Wilfredo Lee / AP
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks, Feb. 15, 2023, at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Monday, March 6, 2023 | 4:03 p.m.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to visit Las Vegas this weekend, making it the latest stop in a series of battleground states as the conservative mulls a run for president in the 2024.
DeSantis will serve as the “special guest” speaker for an event Saturday called “The Florida Blueprint” at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country, 6611 Las Vegas Blvd. South #160, Las Vegas 89119, according to a post from the online organizing website Eventbrite. The event is free to the public, with doors opening at 3:30 p.m. DeSantis is scheduled to speak at 5 p.m.
After a landslide win in November, DeSantis created a “blueprint for freedom in Florida that serves as a model for the rest of the nation,” thus coming up with the name for his speaking tour. The event was posted by a user named “And To The Republic,” and posted similar events later this week in Pinellas Park, Fla., as well as speaking events in Davenport, Iowa, and Des Moines, Iowa, with Gov. Kim Reynolds.
DeSantis is widely considered to be the leading conservative to challenge former President Donald Trump, who announced in December he’d run to secure the Republican presidential nomination for a third time. A former U.S. House Representative, DeSantis has earned the backing of many prominent conservative donors, including Nevada billionaire Robert Bigelow, who last year donated $10 million to DeSantis’ political action committee.
Though DeSantis has not formally announced his candidacy, he’s been the target of nicknames by Trump and his allies. Aside from Trump, former South Carolina Governor and ex-United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is the only other high-profile Republican who has announced a 2024 run.
DeSantis last visited Las Vegas in April, when he campaigned on behalf of Adam Laxalt, his former college roommate who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Nevada Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. Cortez Masto bested Laxalt by about 8,000 votes, or 0.77 percentage points en route to a second term.
