DeSantis looks to launch presidential campaign in June, likely to bypass exploratory committee

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to forgo the deployment of an exploratory committee and go straight into launching his presidential campaign in June according to sources familiar with the matter, reports ABC News.

Former President Donald Trump has been on the offensive in his bid for president, including leveling several jabs at potential GOP rival DeSantis, who has already begun preparing for debates despite not officially declaring his bid for president. A former DeSantis advisor who was involved in the governor's preparation told ABC, "Ron always had a problem with letting attacks get to him and getting visibly shaken by them. Not sure how that would play with Trump standing across from him."

DeSantis is eager to officially enter the field of presidential contenders so that he can tout his accomplishments as governor and begin pushing back against Trump. PAC Make America Great Again Inc, a pro-Trump super PAC, has spent $10 million since March on attack ads aimed against DeSantis.

In his preliminary debate prep, DeSantis has been reviewing his own past performances and has started planning for multiple contingencies concerning Trump, who has said that he will skip the first and potentially the second GOP Primary debates.

Heather Beaven, a Democrat who debated DeSantis in 2012 in a Florida congressional race, said that DeSantis "goes right to anger" in some unscripted or unprepared scenarios.

"There's no humor punch-back. There was him in control, and then flashes of fiery temper," Beaven said.

She went on to say the Florida governor had "thin skin."

"He gets a little aggressive, he gets a little temperamental, he doesn't like to be corrected," Beaven said. "There's an air of 'You don't have the right to question me.'"

A GOP contender who lost to DeSantis for the 2012 congressional seat in the primaries said, "He was a good opponent.  will likely very much be a supporter of his as he moves forward."