The nation is watching to see if former President Donald Trump will announce a 2024 run for president during a primetime speech planned for Tuesday night. There’s been debate on both sides as to whether he will and if he does throw his hat into the ring, it could have major political impacts in Florida and Georgia.
There are two things that need to be watched if Trump announces a run for president. How will it affect the Georgia senate runoff race, and how does it affect Florida Governor Ron DeSantis?
RELATED: Trump prepares to launch 3rd campaign for the White House
Some are also wondering if a run for president would protect Trump from further investigations into things like documents at Mar-A-Lago.
News4JAX Scott Johnson spoke with voters and political analyst Rick Mullaney.
Scott asked one voter, “Do you think Donald Trump should run for president again?” The voter said, “I don’t wanna answer this on the news.”
Voter Edward Wagner said, “I don’t know what to say about that one. Because everything that’s going on right now. I don’t know what’s gonna happen with that.” Wagner continued, “I think that’s gonna cause a ruckus though.”
Another voter who did not want to be named said, “It is what it is. I mean he can do no worse than what Biden’s doing right now.”
There are significant political implications with a Trump announcement in the Georgia runoff for Senate.
News4JAX political analyst Rick Mullaney said this could impact Republican Herschel Walker who is currently trying to rally GOP support and get Republicans a critical Senate seat.
“For Herschel Walker, it may not be ideal.” Mullaney said. “For the Republican party, it may not be ideal but make no mistake, this race is very important. There’s a big difference between a 50/50 tie and 51/49. Difference in committee assignments, committee work, votes potential filibuster.”
Then, there’s the DeSantis question. Trump has made criticisms recently of Governor Ron DeSantis. Mullaney suspects he’s trying to push out primary competitors, but says it comes with a cost.
“When he attacks Mitt Romney, when he attacks Liz Cheney, when he attacks Mitch McConnell, he will be applauded by his base,” Mullaney said. “However, he is not being applauded by his base for attacking Ron DeSantis, and Trump knows that.”
One thing Mullaney points out is the timing of Trump’s announcement this early. “If he officially becomes a candidate, he thinks it makes it more difficult for Democrats on the January 6 committee or the DOJ involved with the seizure of documents from Mar-A-Lago to come after him when he’s an official candidate for president.”
DeSantis somewhat responded to Trump calling him Ron “DeSanctimonious”, saying it’s just the nature of politics. He also pointed to what he called, “the scoreboard from last Tuesday night.”