Credit: CNN
A newly formed Super PAC that is expected to serve as the main outside political group supporting Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is showing strong numbers to start.
An official with Never Back Down confirmed that the committee has brought in $30 million in fundraising since the Super PAC launched on March 9. The official who asked to remain anonymous said all the money was raised rather than transferred from other committees and half of the contributions came from donors outside of Florida.
Sources say that the Super PAC has the blessing of DeSantis, who has still to say if he will run or not in 2024, but most everyone is sure he will. Many believe he will announce a run at the end of the Florida legislative session in May.
In an interview with Fox Nation, DeSantis said to “stay tuned” when asked about his future and running for president.
“Never Back Down has seen a massive surge in support for the movement to make Gov. DeSantis become President DeSantis,” Erin Perrine, the super PAC’s communications director, wrote on Twitter.
Fox News reported:
Super PACs, known as independent expenditure-only committees, are legally allowed to raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations, and individuals, and to spend unlimited sums to support or oppose political candidates. Unlike traditional PACs, they are prohibited under long-standing federal rules from either coordinating or contributing directly to a candidate or candidate’s campaign.
Two other existing super PACs – “Ready for Ron” and “Ron to the Rescue,” which are not affiliated with DeSantis or his political circle – have also been raising money as they urge the governor to launch a presidential campaign. But sources in DeSantis’ wider political orbit have described those groups as “a grift – plain and simple.”
Never Back Down is putting the money it’s raising online into a “Draft Ron” fund that could be transferred to an eventual DeSantis presidential campaign.
Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general is the chair of the Super PAC.
He told Fox News last month that Never Back Down is “trying to provide an organizational center with the super PAC so that people can start getting ready if he [DeSantis] does decide to get in, which looks likely… that we’ll already have prepared the ground for him and he’ll be off and running to a much faster start than he otherwise could have pulled off.”
DeSantis showed his fundraising ability last year, as he brought in more than $217 million for his run for a governor re-election bid. The money he raised was the most ever by a gubernatorial candidate in U.S. history. DeSantis had over $80 million in his state political committee as of a month ago, funds that could be transferred to a serrated group supporting any White House bid.
last week, never Back Down put up a video titled “Waco Crickets” which highlighted media reports showing that the loud crowd went silent when Trump would attack Ron DeSantis. This was the first shot fired by Never Back Down toward former President Trump.
