Free Republic

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will meet this week with high-dollar Republicans to try to cement their support for the newest political action committee supporting his presidential bid, his campaign manager, James Uthmeier, wrote in a memo on Monday morning. Back Down, the super PAC which has bankrolled much of DeSantis' sprawling ground work in early voting states like Iowa and has hosted the governor for dozens of events there. In a fraught moment earlier this month that was first reported by NBC News, two board members from Never Back Down nearly got into a physical fight during a private meeting...

Leaders of Ron DeSantis' Never Back Down super PAC met privately last Tuesday to hash out a strategy for fighting Nikki Haley's rise. Instead, two of them nearly came to blows with each other. The infighting represents an escalation in the long-running war between Never Back Down's professional political operatives and DeSantis’ Tallahassee-based inner circle over who is to blame for the governor’s failure to compete effectively with frontrunner Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. And, after tempers flared at last week's meeting, three close DeSantis allies — David Dewhirst, Jeff Aaron and Scott Ross — launched a second super...

The G.O.P. contender’s campaign tried to take on Donald Trump’s online army. Now it just wants to end the meme wars. ---------------------------------- In early May, as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida prepared to run for president, about a dozen right-wing social media influencers gathered at his pollster’s home for cocktails and a poolside buffet. The guests all had large followings or successful podcasts and were already fans of the governor. But Mr. DeSantis’s team wanted to turn them into a battalion of on-message surrogates who could tangle with Donald J. Trump and his supporters online. For some, however, the gathering...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign is making its first move in the Iowa air wars, with a $2 million ad buy in the state starting in mid-November and running through the night of the caucuses Jan. 15. The move will make the campaign the first to reserve airtime in Iowa through the caucuses — and it underlines how important the state is to DeSantis’ presidential hopes. Last week, the campaign announced that a third of its staff will be relocating there from Tallahassee, Florida. Now, the spending is another sign of how former President Donald Trump’s rivals are investing in...

A super PAC set up to back Ron DeSantis with $50 million is closing as donors backed out - while its founder said the Florida governor's campaign was guilty of 'rookie s**t' mistakes and he will now back Donald Trump. John Thomas, a Republican strategist known as the 'Billy the Kid of Political Battles' set up 'Ron to the Rescue' in November and had secured financial commitments from mega-wealthy donors. But he said the donors began having second thoughts after the botched DeSantis campaign launch on Twitter Spaces in May.

PLEASE Do not miss the anniversary timing. NOTHING is accidental. EVERYTHING is connected. Today is the anniversary of the August 8th FBI raid in Mar-a-Lago; the event that was preplanned to kick off the 2024 DC national removal effort, which was timed with the DeSantis national launch. The remainder of this year’s GOPe forecast is cloudy with a chance of meatballs.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continues to ignore his stewardship of the office he was entrusted to hold, as he fires his campaign manager and pulls his Florida chief of staff into the role.Despite donor assurances just a week ago, campaign...

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec Florida politico tells me this meme is being passed around Tallahassee, sent me a copy 2:05 PM · Aug 8, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday completed the full-scale reboot of his once-promising presidential campaign, reassigning his campaign manager and elevating a loyal hand from his governor's office. The news comes just weeks before the GOP field will face off in the first presidential primary debate in Milwaukee, a chance to reverse a summer that has seen DeSantis, Trump's best-positioned challenger, slip dangerously far behind former President Donald Trump in national polling. Like every reset — DeSantis insists it's a "reload" — the real question remains on if DeSantis waited too long to execute the retooling. Past presidential cycles are...

Ron DeSantis has replaced his campaign manager Generra Peck, in what is the third major reshuffling of his operations, a campaign spokesperson and a person familiar with the move confirmed to POLITICO. Peck will be shifted to a role of chief strategist as part of the new order. Taking her place atop the campaign will be James Uthmeier, who has served as chief of staff in DeSantis’ governor’s office.