View source for Esteban Morello 2024 presidential campaign

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{{Infobox election campaign
|name = Esteban Morello for President 2024 
|logo = [[File:Esteban Morello 2024.svg|210px]] 
|campaigned_for = [[2024 Antillean presidential election]] ([[2024 Civic Democratic Party presidential primaries|Civic Democratic primaries]]) 
|candidate = '''[[Esteban Morello]]'''<br>[[Governor of Cuba]] ''(2021–present)''<br>[[House of Representatives of the Antilles|Antillean Representative]] from Cuba ''(2013–2021)'' 
|affiliation = [[Civic Democratic Party of the Antilles|Civic Democratic Party]] 
|status = '''Announced:''' May 31, 2023<br>'''Withdrew:''' June 17, 2024 
|headquarters = {{W|Trinidad, Cuba}} 
|key_people = [[Joe Vasquez]] (campaign manager) 
|slogan = Freedom and prosperity for all!
|website = 
}} 
The '''2024 presidential campaign of Esteban Morello''' was formally launched on May 31, 2023, at a rally held in his hometown of {{W|Trinidad, Cuba}}. Morello is the sixth and most recent candidate to formally enter the [[2024 Civic Democratic Party presidential primaries|primary elections]] to secure the [[Civic Democratic Party of the Antilles|Civic Democratic]] nomination for the [[2024 Antillean presidential election]]. He is the second Civic Democratic candidate from [[Cuba]] after Representative [[Sarah Wilson]] as well as being the first [[Hispanic and Latino Antilleans|Hispanic]] candidate, the first incumbent [[Governor (Antilles)|governor]], and the second [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] Civic Democratic presidential candidate as well.

Esteban Morello has served as the [[Governor of Cuba]] since 2021 where he won a major victory in [[2020 Cuba gubernatorial election|2020]] against [[Federalist Party of the Antilles|Federalist]] nominee and then-incumbent [[Dan Frost]], making Morello the first candidate in Cuban state history to unseat an incumbent governor since the start of [[Democratization of the Antilles|democratization]] in 1983. As governor, Morello has recieved positive approval ratings and would be credited with ensuring a {{W|blue wave}} in the [[2022 Cuba elections]] which saw the Civic Democrats regain control over the [[Cuba Provisional Assembly]] and the entire state government. 

Morello had been speculated as a potential candidate for the presidency since January 2023 as he had previously expressed interest in running for president. Factors that contributed to further speculation outside of his publically expressed interest included his successes as governor, role in the party's victories in the 2022 state elections, and being credited with shifting Cuba more to the left and in favor of the Civic Democrats which has been viewed as a major factor for the presidential election in Cuba and how competative the state could be. Morello filed paperwork to run for office with the [[Federal Elections Committee (Antilles)|FEC]] on May 21 just ten days before formally announcing his candidacy.

Throughout the primaries, Morello was the only [[Hispanic and Latino Antilleans|Hispanic]] candidate in the race and garnered much of his support from Latino and [[Native Antilleans|indigenous]] Civic Democratic voters. Morello withdrew from the race on June 17, 2024, the day before the [[2024 Cuba Civic Democratic presidential primary|Cuba primary]] where he endorsed [[Allen Paul]] the same day. At the time of his withdraw, Morello had come in third place in the primaries, winning over 640,000 votes and 125 delegates.