Ron DeSantis Has Not Filed To Run for President in 2024 Despite Reports

Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis has not filed to run for president in 2024.

An April 8 filing on the Federal Election Commission's (FEC) website led to reports that DeSantis had declared his candidacy but the filing has signs indicating it is a fake, including missing the capital "S" in DeSantis in several places.

The form listed South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as the vice presidential candidate. However, running mates are typically not named until after a candidate has won their party's nomination for president.

A spokesperson for the FEC declined to comment on the filing when contacted by Newsweek, but noted that "for Statements of Candidacy that appear to raise questions as to their legitimacy, the Commission adopted a policy in 2016 to verify information in registration forms and campaign finance reports filed with the agency that appear to be false or fictitious."

The policy "was later made permanent in the Reports Analysis Division's procedures manual," the spokesperson said.

DeSantis' office has been contacted for comment.

Florida TV station WFLA issued a correction after erroneously reporting that DeSantis had filed paperwork indicating he is running for president.

"The filing does not appear to be legitimate. We regret the error," the station wrote.

The fake filing also prompted comments on Twitter.

"Good news: The Ron DeSantis presidential campaign filing to the FEC was fake," tweeted Jordan Zakarin, a reporter for More Perfect Union. "Bad news: We still have to hear people speculating about when Ron DeSantis will file to run for president."

Research Director for the non-partisan California Target Book Rob Pyers wrote: "We've already had a fake Biden presidential filing, now the first fake Ron DeSantis FEC presidential candidacy filing of the 2024 cycle just dropped.

"This latest work of fan fiction via the FEC's online filing portal lists Kristi Noem as his VP."

Former president Donald Trump has dominated the GOP presidential campaign so far, but DeSantis is widely considered to be his greatest challenger for the 2024 nomination.

DeSantis has remained coy about whether he will run for president, hinting that he would make a decision after the Florida Legislature ends its regular session in May.

But the Florida governor has been building a national profile by placing himself on the front lines of the nation's culture wars and visiting a number of presidential battleground states. On Friday, he delivered a speech at a fundraising event for the New Hampshire Republican Party that was interrupted by protesters.

He faced backlash recently for traveling out-of-state as Fort Lauderdale dealt with widespread flooding.

Trump has attacked DeSantis relentlessly in recent months, writing on his Truth Social account on Friday: "First Ron DeSanctimonious got outplayed, outsmarted, and embarrassed by Mickey Mouse and Disney, and now, while Fort Lauderdale is facing the worst flooding in 100 years, DeSanctus is on tour with his 'shadow' campaign for president, instead of taking care of the people of Florida."

Update 4/16/23, 9:32 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add comment from the Federal Election Commission.