Concerns regarding the DeSantis campaign’s coordination with the pro-DeSantis Super PAC Never Back Down–which has come under scrutiny in recent months as DeSantis fails to make a dent in former President Donald Trump’s lead in the Republican primary race–are increasing.
There have been reports of infighting within Never Back Down and tensions between the PAC, which has spent $43 million on ads this year, and the campaign as DeSantis has failed to make any dent at all in Trump’s lead since the governor’s May launch.
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A September post in Vanity Fair details how Never Back Down’s chief Jeff Roe and the DeSantis campaign have continued to exchange blame for DeSantis’s lackluster performance in the GOP primary race:
Sources say Roe was frustrated that DeSantis waited until early August to replace campaign manager Generra Peck. Peck is a talented operative who gained DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis’s support for having overseen the governor’s decisive 2022 reelection campaign. But she had never worked at the presidential level, and a source says Roe blamed her for overspending too early in the race. Peck declined to comment.
Vanity Fair also cited sources which asserted that Roe was frustrated that DeSantis relies on his wife Casey DeSantis too much as a political advisor, although he denied that.
“That is absolute flat bullshit,” Roe told Vanity Fair. “Even if I thought it, I wouldn’t say it. And I don’t think it.”
Regardless, there are rising concerns about the coordination between the PAC and the DeSantis campaign, as detailed in the Associated Press, which cited sources who said both DeSantis and his wife had “expressed concerns about the messaging of Never Back Down, the largest super PAC supporting the governor’s campaign, in recent months as his Iowa polling numbers stagnated in late summer and autumn.”
It reported that the two were “especially frustrated after the group took down a television ad last month that criticized leading Republican rival Nikki Haley for allowing a Chinese manufacturer into South Carolina when she was governor” and shared their thoughts with those serving on Never Back Down’s board, who then told the PAC’s staff.
This close coordination has some wondering if the waters are getting too murky, as political campaigns cannot work with outside groups in that capacity, per federal law. While there is no official legal challenge over this, some are raising concerns, including Adav Noti, legal director for the Campaign Legal Center.
“To actually have a conversation with the candidate’s agents and the super PAC’s agents about strategy — there is no plausible argument that that is legal,” Noti said, stating that the coordination is going “too far.”
“This is not a gray area,” he told the outlet. However, the campaign has denied that there is an issue.
That is not to mention, either, that many of those involved with the PAC have close ties to DeSantis.
“Late last week, Phil Cox, who managed DeSantis’ 2022 reelection, was named a senior adviser to the super PAC,” according to the AP. Additionally, the DeSantis campaign has touted DeSantis’s 99-county tour of Iowa, but according to reports, his appearances in 92 of those counties were at Never Back Down events.
Never Back Down founder Ken Cuccinelli said there was no pressure from DeSantis or his wife regarding the strategy of the PAC, telling the outlet, “No, not to me. No, no, I don’t play those games. I just don’t play those games.”
“I’ve met the governor, and I’ve encountered Casey at events, but I don’t have those conversations,” he said.
DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo deemed the concerns a “false narrative,” telling the AP, “While the media continues to obsess over attacking DeSantis with anonymous tabloid trash to support a false narrative, we remain focused on organizing in Iowa and sharing our vision for how to help the many Americans struggling this holiday season.”
Meanwhile, tensions have continued to rise within the PAC. In a fairly recent meeting, Never Back Down leaders reportedly discussed Nikki Haley’s rise in the polls, which resulted in what NBC News described as a “heated argument with longtime DeSantis confidant Scott Wagner while a small group of nine board members and senior staff were discussing budgeting.”
During the discussion Roe reportedly told Wagner, “You have a stick up your ass, Scott.”
“Why don’t you come over here and get it?” Wagner allegedly shot back.
In the weeks following, the organization has seen a series of departures. Chris Jankowski, the chief executive of the super PAC, departed in November, asserting that in the “current environment it has become untenable for me to deliver on the shared goal and that goes well beyond a difference of strategic opinion.”
Shortly after, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt resigned as chair of the organization, as did communications director Erin Perrine and director of operations Matt Palmisano. Kristin Davison was reportedly fired as interim CEO for the PAC as well.
The drama within the organization comes as the DeSantis campaign looks to the newly created PAC Fight Right, which appears to be taking over DeSantis’s television ads while Never Back Down focuses on door-knocking operations, as Breitbart News detailed.
All the while, DeSantis continues to flounder in the polls, sitting in second place in Iowa, third place in South Carolina, and fourth place in New Hampshire, according to RealClearPolitics.