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PALM BEACH, Fla. (NewsNation) — With dueling events this weekend, some of the nation’s biggest GOP donors will have to choose between former President Donald Trump or former presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump is expected to attend a major joint fundraiser between his campaign and the RNC on Saturday. A campaign source confirmed to NewsNation that it will be hosted at a private residence in Palm Beach. Expectations are high for Trump to offset President Joe Biden’s recent $25 million fundraiser, with the Trump campaign anticipating an estimated $43 million fundraising haul Saturday. That’s an effort that could...

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro announced last week to the more than 15 million monthly listeners of his eponymous podcast that he wouldn’t just vote for Donald Trump, he would also co-host a fundraiser for the former president.Because the choices for president are identical to 2020, Shapiro said he would “walk over broken glass” to support Trump. Almost immediately, he had an opportunity. Trump said Monday that “any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,” comments that the White House quickly condemned as “vile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric.”Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew and outspoken ally of Israel, provided a quick...

Former President Donald Trump has confirmed that six Republicans are on his shortlist for a potential running mate and vice president at a town hall on Monday. In his first hint at who could be his Vice President if he wins the election in November, Trump's list included two former opponents and an ex-Democrat. Trump, 77, confirmed Florida Governor and one-time foil Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina are all among the ex-rivals being considered. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Florida Republican Byron Donalds, and former Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard are on his shortlist....

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) re-election campaign quietly cut ties in late October with its fundraising consulting firm, Fundraising, Inc. The Republican-aligned fundraising company is a subsidiary of Jeff Roe’s Axiom Strategies. Shortly after winning the Speakership, Johnson was told by several House Republican colleagues — at the urging of Trump campaign aides Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles — that it would be prudent to end his campaign’s use of Roe-affiliated companies. The departure of Johnson as a client of a Jeff Roe-controlled campaign firm is a significant blow to the high-profile Republican political consultant and Axiom Strategies. Meanwhile, some...

DeSantis began 2023 as the best positioned Republican candidate to challenge Trump for the party's presidential nomination, according to polling tracked by 538. But he begins 2024 as another name on the growing list of rivals who failed to shake the former president's popularity among the GOP --- DeSantis' early actions since leaving the race have already sparked speculation that the governor, who is only 45, could make another White House run in the future. A source close to him said that he has privately expressed interest in running again as early as 2028 and has brought it up as...

The chief group backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid made a $2.75 million cash infusion to a pop-up super PAC right around the time that group spent millions attacking former President Donald Trump The payments from the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down to Win It Back PAC — a group linked to Club for Growth — were revealed in the latter group’s filings with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday. Win It Back PAC spent more than $6.4 million on digital and TV ads over the summer opposing Trump’s candidacy. It also funded a field program and text messaging.

Iowa was supposed to be make-or-break for Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor essentially moved his campaign there late last year, and Never Back Down, his allied super PAC, spent tens of millions of dollars knocking on doors in the state. “We’re going to win Iowa,” DeSantis declared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Dec. 2. But in the week before the all-important caucuses, Scott Wagner, the recently installed head of the super PAC, was doing something that aides found puzzling: He was literally doing a puzzle. In the headquarters of Never Back Down in West Des Moines, Iowa, Wagner was,...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) seems to have disappeared from the airwaves in early primary states despite his commitment to stay in the 2024 race. After losing to former President Donald Trump in the Iowa Republican caucuses Monday, coming in a distant second, DeSantis does not have any ads running in New Hampshire, South Carolina, or Nevada, according to ad tracking services. Not only has his campaign apparently gone silent, but the various super PACs supporting his 2024 bid have also vanished from television in the early nominating states.

Straining to recover after a bruising defeat in Iowa, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and his allies moved on Wednesday to shake up his operation yet again, with his super PAC carrying out layoffs and the campaign signaling that it would largely bypass New Hampshire’s primary election next week in favor of competing in South Carolina. The change in strategy appeared to set up the one-on-one contest in New Hampshire that Nikki Haley has been hoping for against former President Donald J. Trump, who leads in polls but is more vulnerable in the moderate state than in socially conservative Iowa....

Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting DeSantis’ presidential campaign, carried out layoffs today, according to an official familiar with the moves.The layoffs affected staff in Iowa and Nevada, as well as some working on data operations. Those who were laid off had their emails immediately shut down. It’s unclear how many staffers were let go.The New York Times first reported the details of the layoffs.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is moving a majority of his campaign staff to South Carolina, and will head back Wednesday night to his home state after attending two events in New Hampshire, according to a senior campaign official. On Friday, he will attend a ceremony for Florida Supreme Court Justice Meredith Sasso, who DeSantis appointed in May. He will then attend campaign events in South Carolina on Saturday and Sunday, CBS News has learned exclusively. [cut] The move to prioritize South Carolina — and essentially forgo a heavy week of campaigning in the Granite State in the week before the...

After visiting all 99 counties in Iowa and failing to win a single one, specifically because he visited all 99 counties in Iowa, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared the dark, unknown and mysterious forces of universe tried to stop him, “threw everything at him,” yet he alone stands victorious. Yeah, he actually said that. The DeSantis campaign put most of their resources into Iowa and gained a total of 23,000 votes (roughly 21%), quickly declaring victory in a tenuous 2nd place finish and proclaiming their victory ticket has been punched. The cognitive disconnect is exceptionally strong; but hey, everyone has...

The video begins with DeSantis running into the hotel store in an attempt to avoid Loomer. DeSantis then stands in the store, does not purchase anything, and eventually leaves, reluctantly walking into Loomer’s questioning. ” I confronted DeSantis as he was walking into his hotel, and he hid from me inside the hotel convenience store and used his staffers, including @Kelly_Kundinger, to physically block my body. His staff also shoved me and tugged on my clothing so that DeSantis could get away from me and run into an elevator. But, I didn’t back down!!!!!”

(LifeSiteNews) — Governor Ron DeSantis said on “day one” he will fire Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and other government leaders who targeted parents concerned about inappropriate curriculum and books, as well as those who targeted traditional Catholics. He said “there’s going to be a reckoning” when it comes to the federal officials responsible. The 2024 Republican presidential candidate made the comments during a Fox News town hall yesterday in response to a question about “weaponized” government. The Iowa GOP caucus is on Tuesday, January 15. He mentioned how the targeting has included IRS investigations into Tea Party groups under...

On the menu today: The cover piece in the newest issue of National Review has Ron DeSantis fans grumbling that it’s far too early for such a gloomy assessment of his campaign because not a single vote has been cast yet. Fine, but to believe that DeSantis has a shot of winning Iowa, we need to believe that his support is at least 15 percentage points higher than his highest numbers in recent polling and that Donald Trump’s support is at least 15 percentage points lower than his lowest numbers in recent polling. (If you simply take DeSantis’s best number...

Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R-FL) campaign is denying claims that the governor's candidacy is in peril, including a comment that his campaign has reached the "make the patient comfortable" stage. Longtime pollster and close DeSantis adviser Ryan Tyson reportedly said to multiple people privately that, at this point in the campaign, they are doing what they need to "make the patient comfortable," a phrase used when describing those in hospice care. DeSantis's campaign has repeatedly dismissed claims that the Florida governor's bid for the White House is deteriorating. Communications director Andrew Romeo told the New York Times that Tyson denied his...

Boxed in by a base enamored with Trump that has instinctively rallied to the former president’s defense, DeSantis has struggled for months to match the hype that followed his landslide 2022 reelection. Ryan Tyson, DeSantis’ longtime pollster and one of his closest advisers, has privately said to multiple people that they are now at the point in the campaign where they need to “make the patient comfortable,” a phrase evoking hospice care. Others have spoken of a coming period of reputation management, both for the governor and themselves, after a slow-motion implosion of the relationship between the campaign and an...

The leading super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid is canceling its television advertisement reservations in Iowa and New Hampshire and shifting its focus to the ground game in the early nominating states. According to AdImpact data, Never Back Down on Friday cut roughly $2.5 million worth in future ad bookings it had made in the two states and some national media markets – the latest sign of DeSantis’ allies scrambling to gain traction in the final weeks before voting begins in the January 15 Iowa caucuses. The group’s chairman, Scott Wagner, acknowledged the shift in a statement...

Over the weekend, a Washington Post report detailed chaos within DeSantis’s super PAC, Never Back Down. Hours later, a top strategist left the operation — just four weeks before voting kicks off in Iowa with what might be the most critical contest for the Florida governor. A complaint filed Monday by the nonprofit watchdog Campaign Legal Center also alleges DeSantis “illegally coordinated” with the super PAC and that Never Back Down went against an “explicit legal requirement that super PACs must remain ‘independent.'” “DeSantis was strongest months ago. The fact is: Sunshine has not been his friend,” Seitchik said, arguing...

Asked for his thoughts about the resignation of Jeff Roe from Never Back Down over the weekend, DeSantis told reporters, “I’m not involved in any of that.” “As you guys know, it’s a separate entity and so it’s just … this stuff just happens, and it’s not in my purview of what’s out there,” DeSantis continued. He later added, “It’s not a distraction for me … I know media may want to do it but at the end of the day, I’m focused on the mission.” Roe’s resignation from Never Back Down came hours after a Washington Post report shared...