Presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis waves to a crowd at a campaign event on June 2, 2023 in Gilbert, South Carolina.
Sean Rayford | Getty Images
The growing group of donors who supported the presidential run of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is concerned about the trajectory of his campaign, even after he’s made $20 million since entering the race in May.
Despite big fundraising numbers and his entering the race on a wave of hype, DeSantis is too late frontrunner Donald Trump in the polls. The Murdoch family, which controls the conservative Fox Corp. and News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch, is reported to have sour on DeSantis. And as concerns for DeSantis grew, several donors told fundraisers about their concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some donors worry that the polls indicate DeSantis will have to climb a potentially insurmountable hill to overtake Trump, these people said. They also worry that Trump has a big lead over DeSantis when it comes to Republican congressional endorsements. DeSantis represented Florida in the House before he won the governor’s office.
Many of the people declined to be identified in this story to speak freely about private conversations.
One megadonor, Ken Griffin, “continues to assess the field,” according to a spokesman for the billionaire Citadel CEO, referring to the GOP primary lineup. Other opponents include former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and US Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
“Nothing has changed” in Griffin’s stance heading into the election, said the spokeswoman, Zia Ahmed, who also denied that the Citadel CEO was concerned about DeSantis’ position in the public poll.
A few days after this story was published, Ahmed gave CNBC a statement from Griffin that notably didn’t mention any candidates currently running for president but gave insight into what the Citadel CEO is looking for in who his supported.
“My political involvement is driven by values and policy, not poll numbers or personality. I will continue to support candidates who relentlessly focus on policy solutions that ensure future generations can achieve American Dream,” Griffin said in a statement given to CNBC on Saturday. “I care deeply about all children having access to a high-quality education, keeping Americans competitive, protecting personal liberties, making sure our communities are safe and secure, fiscal prudence , and maintaining America’s leadership role on the world stage. I am committed to America being the world’s greatest democracy.”
Griffin told Politico in November that he was prepared to support DeSantis if he runs for president. “He has a tremendous record as governor of Florida, and our country will be served well by him as president,” Griffin said at the time. Semafor reported on April that Griffin was sticking with DeSantis, but The New York Times reported the same month The billionaire is still analyzing the Republican primary race and his spokesman declined to say what Griffin thought about the presidential race.
Griffin gave more than $100 million in the 2022 midterms primarily to Republicans running for state and federal races, including $5 million for DeSantis’ successful run for re-election in Florida.
It’s unclear whether Griffin has contributed to pro-DeSantis entities such as Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting DeSantis’ run for president. When asked about the top individual donors to that PAC, a fundraiser for the group did not mention Griffin.
Instead, the man named former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman and VillageMD co-founder and executive Clive Fields, among others. said businessman Robert Bigelow Time in April he gave more than $20 million to Never Back Down.
The super PAC has raised $130 million since the committee launched in March. But more than half of that total came from an $82.5 million transfer from a state-level political committee formerly controlled by DeSantis.
Braman, who has an estimated net worth of $3 billion and has supported Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., when he ran for president, donated $75,000 to DeSantis’ now-defunct state committee which funneled the money to the Never Back Down PAC, according to campaign finance records. Braman’s company, Braman Motors, contributed $100,000 to the state-based DeSantis PAC, as well, records show.
Braman did not return multiple requests for comment. Fields did not return a request for comment. Griffin’s spokesman did not say whether the Citadel CEO contributed to the PAC.
Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for the DeSantis campaign, did not deny any element of this story.
“You could wallpaper the governor’s mansion with the number of premature political obituaries written about Ron DeSantis. Challenging the establishment is not easy – and this campaign to save our country will be a long, hard battle to beat Joe Biden,” Romeo said. “We’re building an organization that will go far. Ron DeSantis is putting in the work to win, and as voters across the country continue to learn about his ambitious plans to reverse Biden’s failures, he will get the nomination.”
as well as Romeo taught CNBC on the campaign endorsed by 259 state legislators.
Dave Vasquez, a spokesman for Never Back Down, announced DeSantis’ fundraising success in a statement to CNBC.
“The $150 million was raised solely to elect Governor Ron DeSantis as the next President of the United States,” Vasquez said after this story was published. “That combined haul is the largest in one quarter of any candidate in this primary. Not only are we outpacing the competition in fundraising, we’re ahead of the field when it comes to infrastructure on the ground – that’s why everyone is running against Governor DeSantis is nervous.”
DeSantis fundraisers pushed back
Despite donors’ concerns, some DeSantis fundraisers are privately echoing their concerns, including noting that national polls mean nothing when it comes to state primaries, some of the people said.
For now, the DeSantis camp is focused primarily on early primary and caucus states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Early vote suggests DeSantis is behind Trump in those states, as well, but that could change as the contests draw closer.
“There’s always going to be someone to complain about something but Gov. DeSantis is running a spirited campaign and introducing himself to the state’s early voters,” Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor and DeSantis bundler, told CNBC. “I think he still won Iowa and New Hampshire in the end.”
The Iowa caucuses are scheduled for January.
While things are looking dire for DeSantis right now, it’s still pretty early in the race. The GOP primary debate scheduled for August could boost DeSantis. Trump and his helpers He said he probably won’t participate in the debate. DeSantis said he will debate in August, regardless of whether Trump shows up or not.
Hal Lambert, who once raised money for Trump’s presidential campaigns and now helps DeSantis, told CNBC he was in a text message chain with about six other donors and didn’t hear back. of any issues from them.
“I’ll tell you this, the people who worry about the polls, obviously haven’t been involved in presidential campaigns,” Lambert said. “National polls are close to meaningless.”
He added that there are no visible campaign issues preventing DeSantis from aiming to raise big money throughout the summer. DeSantis is having a fundraiser in the posh Hamptons on Long Island this month, as CNBC reported in June.
Lambert said there are fundraising events coming up in Colorado, Utah and Wisconsin, among other states. Another person familiar with the event in Colorado said it was this month in the ski town of Aspen, which is known to attract some of the world’s wealthiest people.
DeSantis is scheduled to head to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in late July for a fundraiser, according to an invitation to the gathering. Geoffrey Rehnert, the co-CEO of Audax Group and former executive at Bain Capital, is listed as a co-host for the event.