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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has overtaken Donald Trump as the favorite to win the 2024 election after the former president suffered a number of losses in the midterms.
According to a number of bookmakers, DeSantis is now the favorite to be the next United States president, with Trump behind in second place and Joe Biden third.
DeSantis, who won his election over Democrat Charlie Crist in the November 8 Florida gubernatorial race, has long been considered Trump's potential main rival for the GOP candidacy in 2024, with the former president expected to confirm he is running in the coming days.
Bookmakers are now naming DeSantis as the new frontrunner after a number of Trump's endorsed midterm candidates, many of who backed his false claim the 2020 election was rigged, failed to win their contests.
According to William Hill, DeSantis is now 5/2 to win the 2024 presidential election, with Trump 3/1. Irish bookmakers Paddy Power are currently offering 9/4 for DeSantis and 7/2 for Trump.
SkyBet also has DeSantis as the favorite, offering odds of 5/2 and Trump of 10/3.
Other sites that now list DeSantis as the favorite for the 2024 presidency include Coral, BetVictor and Betfair.
The results of the midterm elections, in which the GOP failed to achieve an expected "red wave" in the House and Senate, have hinted that Trump's MAGA agenda and election denying may not be as powerful a motivator for voters as once thought.
Trump, who endorsed more than 300 candidates across all forms of government on Tuesday, saw a number of his choices lose or underperform, including many of those who support his baseless voter fraud claim about the last presidential election.
Despite not being on the ballot himself, many have suggested that Trump has, in fact, suffered the biggest defeat of the 2022 midterms as he's failed to fully shape the GOP in his image by filling the House and Senate with his preferred choices, along with a number of gubernatorial candidates also losing their respective races.
The midterm results also mean that Trump lost the 2018 and 2022 midterms, as well as the White House, in a matter of four years, paving the way for DeSantis to potentially be the new firebrand leader of the Republican Party.
Conservative commentator Scott Jennings said on CNN: "There's a potential narrative out of this night that if you're a discerning Republican voter trying to figure out the future, direction of this party, we once again learn that Trump is not a national winner for the Republicans.
"But DeSantis may be the next evolution of someone who can marry what you like about Trump but also recover some people that went away from the party during Trump."
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney also appeared to suggest that DeSantis has beaten Trump in the proxy war of the midterms.
"Between being Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis tonight, you want to be Ron DeSantis," Mulvaney told CBS News. "DeSantis wins tonight and Trump is not doing very well."
Ahead of the midterm vote, Trump once again dismissed DeSantis' chances of beating him in a hypothetical GOP primary while appearing to threaten to release damaging personal information about the Florida governor.
"I don't know if he is running. I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly. I really believe he could hurt himself badly," Trump told Fox News on Monday. "I think he would be making a mistake. I think the base would not like it. I don't think it would be good for the party."
"I would tell you things about him that won't be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody—other than, perhaps, his wife," Trump added.
For live updates on the midterms head over to Newsweek's live blog.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more