Ron DeSantis’s long-awaited entry into the 2024 race for the White House was hit by technical glitches after a Twitter live stream malfunctioned.
It meant the Florida governor’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination got under way 20 minutes late.
He went on to use the event to champion his conservative credentials, his anti-lockdown stance and education reforms.
The Florida governor is viewed as former President Donald Trump’s chief rival to be their party’s candidate in the 2024 general election.
Mr DeSantis is a relative newcomer in US politics, having first been elected to the House of Representatives in 2012.
Just six years later in 2018 – after a failed bid to become a senator – he was elected governor of Florida.
He has overseen the enactment of high-profile laws that make it easier to own a gun, restrict sex and gender identity education in schools, and curtail abortion access.
He has claimed that this “Florida Blueprint” can act as a guide for federal policies, one that would move the US in a sharply conservative direction.
He joins a growing list of contenders seeking to unseat Mr Trump, who leads the Republican field by more than 30 points in national opinion polls.
