By Henry J. Gomez and Allan Smith - NBC News
The race to be the next Republican presidential nominee will take a new turn this week, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to officially launch his long-awaited campaign.
But what has long been framed as a battle between Donald Trump and DeSantis, a longtime Trump ally, appears poised to turn into a mass contest.
[Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finalizes announcement of his candidacy to be the Republican candidate for the White House]
At least one other candidate is expected to formally declare his candidacy this week: Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina filed paperwork Friday to set up a campaign after months of positioning himself for a race, and is scheduled to hold his official launch Monday. Half a dozen or more could soon join the fray.
Sen. Tim Scott, who filed paperwork Friday to launch a presidential campaign, speaks during a town hall rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on May 8. Charles Krupa / AP
Allies of former Vice President Mike Pence last week created a super PAC — an organization that raises funds to support a candidate — to promote his possible bid for the White House. News Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd — two Republicans who have had no qualms about criticizing Trump — have telegraphed that they could soon enter the race.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another longtime Trump ally who has since turned against the former president, has also been making noise about his candidacy.
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Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has sent mixed signals about his intentions, released a video last week calling for "a new era of American values." In North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum acknowledged he was thinking "in 2024."
This sudden burst of activity reflects several realities for the early stages of the Republican race. The idea of renominating Trump, who polls show is by far the frontrunner, does not please a sizable segment of the party. And DeSantis, despite being presumed to be the main alternative to Trump, has failed to bolster his position in the run-up to his announcement, prompting others to weigh campaigns.
"Additional conservative names will be welcome for sensible Republicans like me," said former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, who has been critical of Trump. "The unfortunate reality is that the new names won't make a dent in Trump's numbers. Too many Republicans are obsessed with the loudest, angriest voice in the room rather than the most eloquent voice. I hope that obsession changes before it's too late," he added.
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A Trump-aligned operative sent NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo, a screenshot of RealClearPolitics' average of several polls showing Trump is increasing his lead in recent weeks.
"I mean, it gets real," this person said of the field's pending expansion. "But functionally we are doing our own thing while everyone else [competes] for table scraps," he added.
Another Trump ally called the emergence of potential new candidates such as Scott, Christie and Burgum "the biggest campaign story yet," predicting it would prevent DeSantis from hitting the key.
"If it were DeSantis, this is the hellish scenario," the Trump ally said. "Remember, the conventional wisdom of January and February was, 'Oh, actually this is going to be a really small field. Money has been held back. And it's very clear, now it's not going to be a small field."
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Erin Perrine, a spokeswoman for Never Back Down, a pro-DeSantis super PAC, rejected the idea that a larger field would hurt the governor.
"Governor DeSantis is not even a candidate, and this Republican primary is already a two-man race," Perrine said. "There is growing momentum behind Governor DeSantis across the country — as we've seen in his recent visits to Iowa ... and New Hampshire."
Until now, the official field of the Republican Party (GOP) has been relatively narrow. Trump launched his campaign last fall, shortly after the 2022 midterm elections. Among the other candidates announced, the most visible are former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, a political newcomer with a knack for attracting media attention.
Conservative radio host Larry Elder, who failed in his 2021 attempt to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and wealthy businessman Perry Johnson, who was disqualified from Michigan's GOP gubernatorial primary last year for failing to collect enough valid signatures, are also running.
Former Gov. Nikki Haley, one of the first to announce her bid for the White House in 2024, speaks at a campaign rally in Greer, South Carolina, May 4, 2023.
DeSantis and his allies are expected to mount a well-funded campaign. He has been meeting with donors in Florida before its launch and had nearly $86 million in his state campaign account at the end of April. DeSantis can't spend that money directly on a presidential campaign. But the funds could transfer to supportive super PACs, including Never Back Down, which has taken the lead in promoting DeSantis for president.
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"The energy for the governor of the United States to be the next president is overwhelming," Perrine said. "Americans are hopeful and excited that Governor DeSantis will get in the race because they want to leave behind the culture of losing and the leaders of our past."
DeSantis has made only mild criticisms of Trump, instead speaking more abstractly about a GOP "losing culture" — the same phrase Perrine used — that he scans as an implicit allusion to the party's losses under Trump's heavy influence in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Trump, for his part, has been treating DeSantis for months as if he were already a candidate, attacking him relentlessly on social media and through his campaign team and surrogates. More than half of the members of Florida's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, of which DeSantis was a member, have backed Trump.
"Ron DeSantis' failed shadow campaign has opened the floodgates for career politicians looking to seize an opportunity to raise their profile ahead of the 2028 race," Taylor Budowich, chief executive of Trump-aligned MAGA Inc, said Friday in response to Scott's campaign presentation. "The entry of Tim Scott, and his aggressive media buying, not only amputates DeSantis, but Scott sees the same thing as Youngkin, Sununu, Burgum, Christie and others: the path to second place is wide open."