DeSantis Plans Campaign Tour After Digital Rollout Misfires

After its live stream kick-off the wire On Twitter Wednesday night, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is going analog next week for a more traditional rollout of his presidential campaign.

Mr. DeSantis will stop in the three early nomination states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina from May 30 to June 2. The four-day swing through 12 cities and towns is being billed as the first leg of his “Great American Comeback.” Tour.” Mr. DeSantis will begin his campaign’s first in-person event on Tuesday in Des Moines, Iowa. He will be in Iowa on Wednesday, before traveling to New Hampshire on Thursday and South Carolina on Friday.

“Our campaign is committed to putting in the time to win these early swing states,” Janera Peck, Mr. DeSantis’ campaign manager, said in a statement.

Campaigning in a presidential primary, especially early on, is usually a case of gripes and smiles. Mr DeSantis’ decision to announce his candidacy at a live-streamed Twitter Spaces event with the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk came with the prospect of spectacular failure – which seemed likely, at least for the first 25 minutes, when This event was a plague. by the Technical glitches, dead air, and intermittent hot mics lead to this..

Mr. DeSantis’ return to a more traditional form of campaigning will still be closely watched. The governor has had some awkward moments while meeting with voters so far, leading to mockery of former President Donald J. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination. Mr. DeSantis is expected to need a win in Iowa and a second-place finish in New Hampshire to at least show he can challenge Mr. Trump.

On Thursday night, Mr. DeSantis is scheduled to attend a reception with major donors at a Miami hotel. Donors are helping Mr. DeSantis launch his fundraising efforts. Despite the Twitter outage, his campaign said it raised more than $1 million online during its first hour Wednesday night.