DAVID MCINTOSH

Ron DeSantis has emerged as a political star early in the 2024 presidential election season even as he ignores many conventions of modern politics.

A prohibition against puberty blocking hormones and gender-affirming surgeries for minors in Florida was tightened further after a board overseeing doctors eliminated an exception for research at the request of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.

Two major conservative groups have signaled they are open to supporting someone other than Donald Trump in the 2024 race for the White House.

Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana has launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate seat being given up by fellow Republican Mike Braun.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is endorsing former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel in the heated Republican primary for the open U.S. Senate seat in the Midwestern battleground.

Since narrowly losing Minnesota in 2016, Trump has emphasized the state in hopes that a victory this year could offset losses in other states. David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, which has produced anti-Biden ads, said Minnesota may help the Trump campaign build momentum. In 2016, Trump won that district, which includes the Democratic city of Duluth, by 15 percentage points. Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said the Trump campaign has far outpaced Biden in local yard signs — which indicates enthusiasm but may not ultimately affect the outcome. "One of the things the Trump campaign has been very good about is visibility in Duluth, but also in areas around Duluth,” Larson said.

And it is Biden who over the past month has outspent Trump by nearly double, advertising data shows. Biden is currently running ads aimed at suburbanites, Black voters and is also running Spanish language ads to target Latinos. And it didn’t have to happen,” said Patrick Bonsignore, who is the director of paid media for the Biden campaign. Trump's campaign dismisses concerns that they don't have the resources to compete, pointing to $200 million in ad reservations they've made through the election. Trump's campaign also notes Biden's spending in Minnesota, a longtime Democratic state that Trump is trying to contest this year.