As the Republican primary season begins to heat up, the news coming out of Florida is causing waves in the GOP.
Hotel mogul Robert Bigelow, the biggest individual donor to pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC “Never Back Down”, has announced that he will be withholding further financial support until Governor Ron DeSantis can secure additional substantial donors and adopt a more moderate policy agenda.
This move comes after Bigelow donated $20 million earlier this year to the aforementioned PAC.
He expressed his concern with what he perceives as an increasingly ‘right-wing’ approach by the governor and his lack of standing against President Donald Trump’s strong lead for the 2024 nomination.
This isn’t entirely unfounded.
According to Politico, DeSantis’ presidential campaign team recently cut over a third of its payroll in order to save money, which could indicate a struggle with finances or lack thereof.
Bigelow had also been vocal about his opposition to DeSantis signing a bill passed by the Florida legislature banning abortions after six weeks; a measure that was enacted directly following Bigelow’s hefty donation.
It’s clear why he would choose not to contribute any more money until other donors are brought on board – as it stands now, twenty percent of all donations made towards DeSantis have come from Bigelow himself which is far too much for one person alone.
It appears that all is not lost yet for Governor Ron Desantis; while Robert Bigelow has chosen not to continue donating large sums of money until other donors join in, he hasn’t completely ruled out doing so again in future.
Furthermore, according to NBC News, there are still some who believe that DeSantis can make a real impact in this election if only he shifts tactics slightly, specifically by courting moderates rather than focusing solely on right-wing social policies and rhetoric that tend to fail at exciting voters.
That being said though, it certainly looks like things aren’t going well at present moment.
The Gateway Pundit reported Saturday that crowds attending events hosted by Desantis are dwindling rapidly.
To make matters worse, they’ve noted how many Republican strategists agree that his bid may be doomed already due to poor electability ratings among moderates given his current strategy employed so far during this election season.
