DeSantis Presidential Campaign Launch Marred by Glitches

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis has officially entered the 2024 presidential race, poising himself against ex-President Donald Trump and multiple state and federal officeholders. His launch was highly anticipated by Republicans nationwide, but it was plagued at time by technical issues. DeSantis made an unorthodox choice for his campaign launch, forgoing a physical announcement in favor of a virtual one. He hosted a ‘Twitter Spaces’ room with Twitter CEO Elon Musk to break the news, hoping to make the launch a viral moment. The launch succeeded in drawing mass media attention to the DeSantis campaign, but not solely for the reasons the Governor was hoping. Several minutes on end in the chat room were dead air, silence or droning white noise going out to the audience of hundreds of thousands. Already conservative pundits have claimed the issues were due to the numbers of Twitter users tuning into the stream, which may be the case, but the numbers did not set internet records as some have claimed. Musk claimed Twitter would be redirecting some of its server capabilities toward facilitating he and DeSantis’ announcement, but by the time the Governor began speaking, as much as 90% of the initial audience had already left. When the Spaces chat did begin working properly, DeSantis touted his record as Florida Governor, including his record on limiting abortion laws and his ongoing battle with Disney.