DeSantis will announce presidential run on Twitter Spaces with billionaire Elon Musk, who once said he'd support him but won't be endorsing in 2024

• DeSantis will announce his presidential run on Twitter.
• He'll do so in a conversation with Elon Musk.
• Musk previously said he'd support DeSantis for president, but said now he's not endorsing in the race.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will announce on Twitter that he's running for president, NBC News first reported. 

DeSantis will make the long-awaited announcement in a Twitter Spaces interview with Elon Musk on Wednesday. The conversation will happen at 6 p.m. EST, according to Fox News, though Musk said during a Wall Street Journal Council Summit interview Tuesday that it would occur in the morning on Wednesday.  

"I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis and he has quite an announcement to make and will be the first time that something like this is happening on social media," he said, adding that he would have "real questions and answers, not scripted." 

Making his candidacy official brings DeSantis to the top of the primary contest against former President Donald Trump, though the former real estate mogul and reality TV star still dominates in the polls. 

DeSantis is set to huddle with donors starting Wednesday and into Thursday at the luxurious Four Seasons hotel, located in the downtown Brickell area of Miami, which is a financial district.

On Monday, DeSantis altered his Twitter handle from @RonDeSantisFL to simply @RonDeSantis. 

Musk said on Twitter last year that he would support DeSantis for president, but said Tuesday that he would not be endorsing any particular candidate. When asked to respond to the endorsement last year, DeSantis said he welcomed "support from African Americans."

Musk, who is white, was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and lived there until he was 17 before moving to Canada.

Trump allies criticize the plans

Ever since his time serving in the US House, starting in 2013, DeSantis has had a collaborative relationship with Fox News. That continued into his governorship, where the network's broadcast and digital reporters often get first dibs at major news.

News that the DeSantis 2024 announcement will take place on Twitter comes just weeks after Fox News abruptly said it was ousting political commentator Tucker Carlson from the network. Carlson has plans to air his new primetime show on Twitter. 

"Smart," Sam Nunberg, who was a senior adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign, told Insider of the announcement plans. "Fuck Fox. You can quote me." 

Fox News reported that DeSantis will still be appearing with the network later, conducting his first network interview as a 2024 presidential candidate at 8 p.m. with Trey Gowdy. Lindsey Curnutte, spokeswoman for the DeSantis political operation, confirmed the information to Insider.  

Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump-affiliated super-PAC Make America Great Again Inc., in a statement called the launch "one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history." 

"The only thing less relatable than a niche campaign launch on Twitter is DeSantis after party at the uber elite Four Seasons resort in Miami," he said. 

Trump frequently used Twitter as president, often making major announcements that drove the news cycle and sent aides scrambling. He was kicked off the website after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters, but Musk reinstated his account when he bought the company for $44 billion.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a question from Insider over whether Trump would return to Twitter around the same time that DeSantis makes his announcement.

A senior adviser on the Trump campaign panned the idea of launching a campaign on Twitter. "Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis," the person said. "This way he doesn't have to interact with people and the media can't ask him any questions." Trump made his 2024 announcement at Mar-a-Lago, and while the press was invited he didn't take questions from the press afterwards. 

John Thomas, who ran a super PAC in support of a DeSantis presidential run called Ron to the Rescue, had similar observations, saying, "Twitter is not real life."

He told Insider he thought "DeSantis must humanize himself immediately. The fastest way to do that is to be seen with real people in real life."

An association with Musk, however, could help because he's popular with GOP voters, Thomas added. 

DeSantis' social skills have come under attack by the Trump campaign as the race heats up, drawing news reports about his time on the trail and whether he seems uncomfortable with meeting voters.  

Conservatives have heralded Musk for promising to unleash free speech on Twitter, though the company has faced drastic staff cuts ever since the Tesla and SpaceX CEO took over. 

This month, Musk named NBC's Linda Yaccarino as Twitter's new CEO, saying she would focus on business operations and he would focus on product design and new technology. 

DeSantis will be the seventh person to enter the GOP primary that includes Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, radio host Larry Elder, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who held his campaign event Monday. 

Other candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, are still considering entering the primary. 

Should DeSantis, 44, become the GOP nominee, he would face off against Joe Biden, the oldest president in history who will turn 81 this year. DeSantis has made his young, telegenic family with his wife, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, a centerpiece of his public image. 

"Big, if true..." Casey DeSantis tweeted about the news Tuesday, with a smiley face.