Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is bringing together a handful of deep-pocketed businessmen to haul in cash ahead of his 2024 presidential campaign announcement Wednesday evening, the Washington Examiner confirmed.
DeSantis, who even before stepping into the race has polled second to former President Donald Trump in GOP primary surveys, will announce his White House bid on Twitter during a discussion with the platform’s CEO Elon Musk. The governor’s campaign will be briefing the businessmen from Wednesday to Friday at Miami’s Four Seasons Hotel, with the aim of building the support and financial groundwork necessary to challenge Trump on the national stage, according to a source close to the DeSantis campaign.
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An updated RealClearPolitics polling average for the 2024 Republican presidential primary nomination finds Trump garnering 56.3% support, with DeSantis at 19.4%, the undeclared ex-Vice President Mike Pence at 5.6%, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley at 4.3%.
One senior Republican operative supporting Trump’s campaign pushed back on the gathering of business leaders, telling the Washington Examiner that while “DeSantis is busy huddling” with prior donors of ex-Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL), “the Deep State is trying to take down Trump.”
David Horowitz, chairman of the real estate and family office investment firm Horowitz Group, is one businessman being lined up by the DeSantis campaign. Horowitz poured $25,000 in June 2021 into Friends of Ron DeSantis, the governor’s state committee, which has since been renamed as the Empower Parents PAC, which “supports the advancement of issues and candidates committed to protecting parental rights in education,” according to disclosures.
The businessman has made various donations to Republicans through the years, including $2,800 to Trump’s failed 2020 campaign and $50,000 in 2020 to Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee, disclosures show.
Another person on the DeSantis list of business leaders is Hal Lambert, founder of Point Bridge Capital, a Texas-based investment managing firm. Lambert’s firm manages a fund called MAGA ETF that aims to let people invest in companies aligned with Republicans. He was on Trump’s inaugural 2016 committee and is an ex-national finance chairman for Trump’s 2016 campaign, Lambert’s website shows.
“I certainly think north of $500K of hard dollars is very possible for me,” Lambert told CNBC in terms of how much he seeks to fundraise for the Florida governor. “I want to win in November, and I don’t think Trump will win. If you look at the map, the states we need, he is losing or has lost previously.”
Lambert cut a $1,000 check to Friends of Ron DeSantis in 2021, according to disclosures. He also donated $2,800 in 2019 to Trump Victory, records show.
Jay Zeidman is also a listed DeSantis fundraiser. He is a managing partner at Altitude Ventures, a healthcare investment firm with offices in Nashville and Houston.
Zeidman gave $2,450 to Bush’s 2016 campaign, disclosures show. He donated $1,000 in April 2023 to the Republican National Committee and $750 between October 2021 and December 2021 to the Great Task, a leadership PAC affiliated with ex-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), a staunch Trump critic, records show.
Frank Mermoud, president of Orpheus International, which “provides strategic counsel and representation to clients in the areas of international business, trade, policy, and government affairs,” is a businessman on the DeSantis list. He gave $2,700 to Bush’s 2016 campaign and over $1,100 to Trump’s campaign in 2016, records show.
DeSantis, 44, is widely viewed by Republican operatives in Washington, D.C., as the more palatable and conservative version of Trump heading into the 2024 election. The governor has thus far largely held back from taking aim at Trump, who has continued to scrutinize the very idea that DeSantis would seek to challenge him.
Several groups are planning to spend large sums boosting DeSantis in the lead-up to the election, including Never Back Down, a super PAC that counts staffers such as Erin Perrine and Matt Wolking, who previously worked for the Trump campaign. Never Back Down expects to have a budget of at least $200 million, which includes over $80 million that will be transferred from the DeSantis state account, according to the New York Times.
The Washington Examiner reported in late April how a variety of billionaires and wealthy business leaders have, in recent years, steered contributions to DeSantis’s state campaign, including Robert Bigelow, the owner of the private hotel chain Budget Suites of America. Bigelow has heavily financed Never Back Down and gave more than $9 million in 2021 to the Republican Governors Association, disclosures show.
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As far as some other Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) began his campaign this week, with his super PAC Opportunity Matters Fund coming equipped with a $25 million war chest funded by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Trump’s campaign has raised over $14.4 million so far, while his joint fundraising committee took $4.4 million from January to March.
The DeSantis campaign declined to comment on the governor’s finances. The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump campaign.
