The anti-LGBT crusader using Trump’s collapse to chase his dream

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“He was hewed closely to Trump’s style of policies in Florida, while putting his own spin on them,” she said, noting his creation of the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention centre for…

As the Republican Party licks its wounds over a historic drubbing in the midterm elections, some members are looking to an unlikely saviour.

Sources close to the outgoing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis say he is preparing another run for the party’s presidential nomination, following a short-lived challenge to Donald Trump in 2024 that led to a bitter feud between the two men.

DeSantis, 48, has been quick out of the gates to offer a diagnosis of the party’s election failings, and position himself as a potential solution.

On the eve of the election, he said that the Iran war had been a “big, big drag” on Republicans: “We just got to be honest. Gas is higher. It hurts people, working-class people, and it’s higher because of this conflict.”

He later described the results, in which Democrats won control of the House and the Senate, as “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans”. He added that his priorities as governor helped “prevent the worst from happening” in Florida, where Republican Byron Donalds won the race for governor and Republican Ashley Moody held her seat in the Senate.

Despite his media tour, DeSantis, known for his policies against Florida’s LGBT+ community over his eight years in office, has played down reports that he is about to launch a campaign.

But political analysts suggest he has few other options with his term running out in Florida and no available Senate seat in the state. There are also other factors that could work in his favour in a presidential race: Florida stayed red during the Republicans’ worst election night in a generation, and DeSantis was not part of the administration that delivered it.

DeSantis appears to have early momentum as the third-favourite for the nomination in betting markets behind Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He consistently features among the leaders in opinion polls.

The Republican Party’s centre of gravity has shifted since the midterms wipeout, said Jude Russo, managing editor of The…

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