(Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said people “just need to chill out a little bit” about his brewing rivalry with Donald Trump, as the two Republicans jostle in what is widely expected to be a brawl for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination.  

“We just ran an election and we have the Georgia runoff coming, which is very important for Republicans to win,” DeSantis said in response to questions about Trump’s presidential announcement Tuesday. Republicans had pleaded with Trump to delay his announcement until after the Dec. 6 Senate runoff so as not to inspire anti-Trump independents to vote Democratic. 

DeSantis has been coy about his own presidential ambitions, especially on the heels of his landslide re-election. Still, he’s sending plenty of signals by attending key Republican gatherings, like the Republican Governors Association’s winter meeting in Orlando on Tuesday and a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas at the end of the week.

Trump has openly criticized him, including nicknaming him “Ron DeSanctimonious” and threatening to reveal damaging information if he ran seeks the White House. But in response, DeSantis has kept his cards close to his chest.

It was only on Tuesday, the day Trump finally made his candidacy official, that DeSantis finally delivered a pointed swipe to a man who helped his political career but who now stands as an obstacle to his ambition. After a barrage of attacks from Trump, he finally told reporters they should “check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night” to see how Trump-backed candidates fared poorly. 

The Republican Party’s shortcomings in last week’s midterm elections has added to their rivalry. Key GOP benefactors, like Citadel’s billionaire founder Ken Griffin and Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of private-equity giant Blackstone Inc., have said they will not back Trump in favor of a new generation of leaders. Trump is 76; DeSantis is 44. 

“Florida was a bright spot but Republicans’ performance was not so bright in many other parts of the country,” DeSantis said at news conference Wednesday in Matlacha, Florida. “It was lackluster.” 

“The good thing about winning a big victory in Florida is that we have supermajorities at legislature now and we have an opportunity to keep gaining momentum,” DeSantis said, saying the Republicans should be focused instead on the Georgia runoff.

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