DeSantis
© Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Wednesday said he isn't currently considering a presidential run in 2024 because he's busy making sure "people are not supporting critical race theory." The Republican told Fox News host Sean Hannity:
"I'm not considering anything beyond doing my job. We got a lot of stuff going on in Florida. I'm going to be running for reelection next year. We are also working on a lot of things in the state beyond the governor's race. We got school-board races. I want to make sure people are not supporting critical race theory, making sure that parents have the ability to send their kid to school the way they want to."
Under DeSantis, Florida banned the teaching of critical race theory in its public schools in June. Critical race theory is an academic theory that holds that American institutions — including the criminal justice system, housing, and educational systems — remain systemically racist. Republican activists and lawmakers across the country baselessly insist that liberal school systems are teaching white American kids that they're racist, and DeSantis has described CRT as the teaching of "false history" that would "denigrate the Founding Fathers."

The governor has called critical race theory "state-sanctioned racism," despite the fact that the theory wasn't taught in Florida's schools before it was banned. "The woke class wants to teach kids to hate each other, rather than teaching them how to read," he told the Florida board of education in June.

DeSantis has been widely viewed as a likely contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, particularly if former President Donald Trump doesn't run. DeSantis has previously dismissed rumblings he's making a bid for the spot, saying they were "rumors" and "nonsense."

*However, this headline has been updated to reflect DeSantis has not ruled out a presidential run.