DeSantis Campaign Responds to Closure of Unaffiliated ‘Scam’ PAC

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes part in the first Republican Presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on Aug. 23, 2023. Photo by PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign said Thursday that the closure of the Ron to the Rescue super PAC was “welcome news.”

“We’ve made clear from the beginning that this was a scam PAC looking to grift off Ron DeSantis, and it comes as welcome news they are no longer attempting to fleece our donors,” said Andrew Romeo, communications director for the campaign, in a statement.

“Ron DeSantis outraised both [President Joe] Biden and [former President Donald] Trump last quarter, and we look forward to continuing our fundraising success as we capitalize on his strong debate performance and momentum in the early states,” Mr. Romeo added.

Republican strategist John Thomas launched the Ron to the Rescue super PAC last fall to urge Mr. DeSantis to enter the 2024 presidential race.

But in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Mr. Thomas said he and the committee’s donors had become disenchanted with the governor following his botched campaign launch on Twitter, now X.

“We were hoping to do like a formal TV campaign of air support when DeSantis officially launched,” he told the outlet. “But the problem with that is, with the Twitter Spaces blunder, like almost from the get-go, all of our major donors said, ‘Let’s just see how this plays out.’”

‘Rookie’ Mistakes

While most presidential hopefuls opt to announce their candidacy via mainstream media interviews or at large campaign events, Mr. DeSantis chose to buck that trend. Instead, he launched his campaign during a glitchy Twitter Spaces interview on May 24 with the platform’s owner, Elon Musk.

His campaign and even some supporters were quick to spin the myriad technical difficulties as a positive sign of overwhelming support. But according to Mr. Thomas, for would-be donors, the optical damage was severe.

And the optics, the strategist said, were not helped by the fact that the interview was audio-only.

“There is one singular important thing every national presidential candidate must do on their launch day, which is provide video to give to the television stations to project optically what your vision is for the future,” he said.

Mr. Thomas added that the campaign had also made other “rookie [expletive] errors,” like sharing internal documents online and accepting the challenge to debate California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

And those errors, he said, chased away “seven- and eight-figure support” for the Florida governor.

DeSantis’s Warning

While Mr. Thomas attributes a lack of contributions to blunders by the DeSantis campaign, there could be another explanation.

According to Fox News, shortly after the Ron to the Rescue PAC’s launch, Benjamin Gibson, legal counsel for Mr. DeSantis, sent out a letter warning donors that the committee was using the governor’s name and likeness to raise funds without his permission.

“It is important to make clear to supporters that Governor DeSantis and his team are not affiliated with the ‘Ron to the Rescue’ PAC, have not authorized it to conduct any activity on their behalf, and contributions made to the ‘Ron to the Rescue’ PAC will not benefit Governor DeSantis or his agenda,” Mr. Gibson wrote in the November letter.

The attorney also noted that such unaffiliated PACs could “create confusion” among Mr. DeSantis’s supporters.

Boarding the Trump Train

According to Federal Election Commission filings, the Ron to the Rescue PAC raised just over $1,600, of which more than $1,200 was disbursed to Mr. Thomas’s political consulting firm, Thomas Partners Strategies, for “PAC strategy consulting.”

Now, Mr. Thomas said he and his donor network intend to shift their support to President Donald Trump, who had surprised him with “a level of campaign savvy and discipline” that he had not previously seen from him.

“We’re going to see, after the reporting period of Sept. 30, how Trump’s cash on hand is, and then we’re going to try to determine where we can fill in gaps, if it’s needed.”

Since announcing his third presidential bid, President Trump has maintained his position as the clear frontrunner in the contest, with Mr. DeSantis consistently polling in second place.

According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, the 45th president holds a commanding 40-point lead over the governor and is supported by 53.6 percent of Republicans.

Mr. DeSantis, however, has repeatedly dismissed the polls, holding that he is the only candidate who can beat President Joe Biden in the general election.

“[O]f any Republican in the country, I have the best record of defeating the left on issue after issue, and we’ll be making that case over the next six or seven months,” he told Fox News on July 7.

“I’m running to win in January and February,” he added. “I’m not running to juice polling now.”