Posted on 05/19/23
| News Source: FOX News
GOP presidential contender Nikki Haley welcomed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to the 2024 presidential race on Thursday.
"Welcome to the race. We’ve been waiting," she said in an interview with The Hill.
While the fellow Republican has yet to officially announce his bid for the White House, sources familiar with the governor's decision confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that he will file formal paperwork with the Federal Election Commission next week to declare his candidacy. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The filing by DeSantis will coincide with his meeting next week in Miami with top financial backers, one source told Fox News Digital.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waves as he arrives to a conference titled "Celebrate the Faces of Israel" at Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance on April 27, 2023. (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
"I’m glad that he’s going to be out there because I want the American people to see who they’re choosing from," the former ambassador to the United Nations told the outlet.
Notably, DeSantis was quoted by The New York Times on Thursday saying that he is one of just three "credible" options in contention for the White House.
"You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing," he reportedly told donors on a call organized by Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting him. "Biden, Trump and me."
By Friday, Haley will have held 22 campaign events in Iowa.
She officially launched her campaign in February.