TagRon DeSantis

Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis join Republican primary field

By Ellen Morrissey
In 2024 elections
May 26, 2023 at 3:15 PM

Two new noteworthy candidates announced 2024 presidential campaigns in the past week. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced on May 22, 2023, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced on May 24. There are now three noteworthy Democrats and eight noteworthy Republicans running for president.

Below is a summary of each candidate’s campaign activity from May 19 to May 26.

Joe Biden (D) spoke about firearms policy at a memorial for the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting in Washington, D.C., on May 24. That day, Biden also released an online ad criticizing DeSantis.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (D) spoke at the Bitcoin 2023 conference on May 19.

Marianne Williamson(D) released the text of her economic policy, titled “An Economic Bill of Rights: A Vision for a Moral Economy,” on May 23. Williamson’s campaign manager, Peter Daou, and deputy campaign manager, Jason Call, resigned from her campaign on May 20 and May 19, respectively.

Ron DeSantis (R) announced his presidential candidacy on May 24 in a live-streamed conversation with Elon Musk and David Sacks on Twitter.

Larry Elder (R) published an op-ed in The Washington Times titled “President Biden at Howard University: The great White savior” on May 22.

Nikki Haley (R) campaigned in Iowa on May 19 and in New Hampshire on May 23 and May 24, respectively. Haley wrote an op-ed for Seacoastonline titled “Nikki Haley: Force Congress to fix veterans’ healthcare” on May 24.

Asa Hutchinson (R) campaigned in South Carolina from May 22 to May 23.

Vivek Ramaswamy (R) held campaign events in Chicago, Illinois, on May 19 and Iowa on May 26. He also spoke at the Bitcoin 2023 conference on May 20.

Tim Scott (R) announced his presidential campaign on May 22 at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina. On May 23, Scott began a $5.5 million ad campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. Scott campaigned in Iowa on May 24 and New Hampshire on May 25.

Donald Trump (R) was endorsed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) on May 22. Trump released an online ad on May 24 criticizing DeSantis.

We did not identify any specific campaign activity from Corey Stapleton (R) during this time frame.

At this point in the 2020 cycle, 26 noteworthy candidates were running for president. Twenty-four were seeking the Democratic nomination, and two (Trump and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld) were seeking the Republican nomination.

Notable stories at the time included eight Democratic presidential candidates appearing at demonstrations opposing anti-abortion laws in Alabama and Georgia on May 21, 2019, and reporting that said Trump had spent $5 million on Facebook ads targeting older Americans and women from January to May 2019. 

In the 2016 election, eight noteworthy candidates had announced their campaigns as of May 26, 2015. There were two Democrats (Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders) and five Republicans.

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The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restored several provisions of a recent Florida election law that have been struck down

By Roneka Matheny
In Federal, State
May 5, 2023 at 4:41 PM

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision on April 27, 2023, involving “four recently enacted provisions of Florida’s election law, including provisions that regulate ballot drop boxes, the solicitation of voters at the polls, and the delivery of voter-registration forms by third-party voter-registration organizations,” according to Judge William Pryor’s majority opinion.

These provisions were all part of Florida’s Senate Bill 90, a package of election law changes that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law on May 6, 2021. The League of Women Voters of Florida sued the state soon after, alleging that key provisions of the law were intentionally discriminatory against minority communities. 

Judge Pryor, appointed by President George W. Bush (R), wrote in the majority opinion for last month’s reversal that the “findings of intentional racial discrimination rest on both legal errors and clearly erroneous findings of fact…”.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida struck down these provisions on March 31, 2022, and ordered the state to submit to federal preclearance for all election law changes for the next ten years. Judge Mark E. Walker, appointed by President Barack Obama (D), wrote in the majority opinion that the S.B. 90 provisions would disproportionately affect minority voters in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the Voting Rights Act.   

After this reversal, the following S.B. 90 provisions will be enforced:

  1. Voters requesting mail-in ballots (in person, in writing, or by telephone) must provide either their Florida identification card numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. In addition, mail-in ballot request forms will be effective for one election cycles instead of two.
  2. Drop box locations anywhere other than the office of the county supervisor must only be open during early voting hours and must be secured by the in-person monitoring of an employee of the supervisor’s office.
  3. Third-party voter registration organizations must deliver all collected applications to the division or supervisor of elections in the counties where the applicants reside within 14 days. Applications can no longer be submitted to any supervisor of elections.
  4. Any activities with the intent or effect of influencing a voter are barred within 150 feet of a drop box or the entrance to a polling place.