Big donors to DeSantis’ governor campaigns aren’t funding his presidential bid
Most of Ron DeSantis’ former top donors aren’t ready to back his presidential bid.
Roughly three-fourths of the Florida governor’s largest gubernatorial contributors haven’t donated this year to a super PAC supporting his White House candidacy, according to a preliminary analysis of campaign finance documents filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission.
Their absence from a list of donors through the end of June is a reminder for DeSantis of the stark challenges of running for the presidency, where even once-strong supporters aren’t guaranteed to cut big checks amid possible doubts about the campaign’s viability and conflicting loyalties with other candidates in the field. Since launching his campaign in May, the Republican governor has struggled to gain traction, slipping in polls of the 2024 primary amid criticisms that his campaign has failed to make an effective case against renominating former President Donald Trump.
Overall, the DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, showed it had raised more than $130 million, an enormous sum even in presidential politics. More than $82 million of that total, however, came from a DeSantis state PAC that predated his 2024 campaign. (McClatchy’s analysis included 2023 donors to the state PAC among DeSantis’ supporters this year.)
Never Back Down also spent nearly $34 million since its inception in late February, according to documents it filed.
An official with Never Back Down said the group would “ramp up our fundraising efforts this quarter” after avoiding donor outreach during DeSantis’ campaign launch.
“Since the Governor entered the race this last quarter, Never Back Down held off holding fundraisers and aggressively soliciting donors,” the official said. “We wanted to stay out of the way so donors would be more likely to donate hard dollars directly to the campaign instead of donate to the super PAC.”
Among the prominent names missing from the donor rolls is the Florida governor’s biggest financial backer during his first 2018 campaign: hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist Ken Griffin. Despite stating that he would support a DeSantis presidential bid late last year, Griffin has yet to contribute to either the pro-DeSantis super PAC or the presidential campaign. He gave $10.75 million overall to DeSantis’ state political groups in Florida, with his last donation in April 2021.
Griffin said that he is still taking stock of the presidential field. A person familiar with Griffin’s thinking said the businessman has been discouraged by legislation out of Florida this year that he feels undermined individual freedoms.
“As the Presidential campaigns unfold, I am assessing how the policies of each candidate will address the challenges facing our country,” Griffin said. “I care deeply about individual rights and freedom, economic policies that encourage prosperity and upward mobility, all children having access to a high-quality education, ensuring our communities are safe, and a strong national defense.”
Also missing are billionaire former Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter and his wife Laura, who collectively gave more than $2.5 million in previous years to support DeSantis’ Florida PACs. The couple have also been among the biggest supporters of Trump in the past, writing checks for more than $25 million to committees supporting Trump in his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. A spokesman for Ike Perlmutter told NBC News last month that he plans to provide “meaningful” support for Trump again this cycle.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida gave $2 million to support DeSantis in 2022 but has not supported his presidential bid yet, either. The Tribe declined to comment.
DeSantis and the super PAC supporting him have been able to cash big checks from donors newer to the fold. The top donor to Never Back Down is Nevada real estate magnate and UFO enthusiast Robert Bigelow, who gave the group more than $20 million in March. Bigelow first gave to DeSantis in July 2022. At the time, Bigelow said he hadn’t even realized DeSantis was up for re-election for governor.
Never Back Down also got $2 million in support from billionaire venture capitalist Doug Leone, who never supported either of DeSantis’ bids for governor.
Some of the Florida governor’s biggest historical backers have opted so far to contribute only to his official presidential campaign, which is subject to a $6,600 contribution limit for the entire presidential cycle. All told, a little more than a third of DeSantis’ gubernatorial runs have given so far to either his presidential campaign or Never Back Down.
Super PACs are subject to looser campaign finance restrictions than a candidate’s official campaign, able to collect uncapped contributions that often reach, or even exceed, seven-figure sums. And although these groups are not legally allowed to coordinate with the campaign, they still play an essential role in bolstering a candidate with voters, often spending more money on TV and digital ads than the official political apparatus.
Never Back Down, in particular, has played a key role for DeSantis, even helping fund and coordinate on-the-ground events last week in Iowa.
The super PAC has touted an extensive voter-outreach effort that sends paid staffers to visit voters at home, known as a field program. The group announced last week that it had knocked on a million doors of potential voters.
READ MORE: Pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down makes up for governor’s financial shortfalls
One name that might not be a surprising absence from the list of DeSantis supporters is August Busch III, the former CEO of Anheuser Busch, who gave $200,000 to a Florida group supporting DeSantis in 2018. DeSantis has taken aim at the beer manufacturer — which is no longer owned by the Busch family — over a Bud Light marketing campaign featuring a transgender influencer named Dylan Mulvaney, even saying the state of Florida should consider legal action against the company. Busch wrote a check in June to support a super PAC backing Vivek Ramaswamy.
McClatchy’s analysis looked at the top 100 individuals and businesses who supported Ron DeSantis’ gubernatorial races in 2018 and 2022. McClatchy then compared that list of supporters with donors to Never Back Down, the DeSantis presidential campaign and 2023 donors to the state PAC that transferred more than $82 million to Never Back Down.
