The driving force behind Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid isn’t his official campaign but rather a well-funded outside group that’s handling crucial day-to-day activities — powered by a cadre of seasoned political advisers and a deep cash trove.
DeSantis’s super political action committee, Never Back Down, has carried out much of the work typically performed by a campaign, including devising his game plan in Iowa as well as deciding where he goes and who he meets, according to donors and allies. Days before the first Republican debate next week, a firm run by operatives advising the super PAC posted online hundreds of pages of strategy advice for DeSantis.
“What they’re doing is offloading what is traditionally campaign activity to the super PAC,” said Larry Noble, a former general counsel with the Federal Election Commission, referring to the DeSantis campaign. “To claim that it’s done without coordination is unbelievable.” Meanwhile, the campaign, which has been stacked with Tallahassee-based aides, recently replaced manager Generra Peck with Jeff Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff in Tallahassee, who has never run a presidential campaign. Other staff changes signal that Never Back Down’s influence over the campaign will continue to grow. Former top super PAC official David Polyansky — from Roe’s Axiom Strategies — recently was named deputy campaign manager.
DeSantis’s dependence on his super PAC is the latest twist in campaign finance in the 13 years since a Supreme Court decision opened the door to unlimited fundraising and spending by outside groups. It’s not so much that Never Back Down is doing things that other super PACs have never done, said a person familiar with its operations. Rather, it’s the scale of the operation, made possible by the $131 million bankroll it began with, the person said.
Yet the bounds of the super PAC coordination rules have generally not been tested this much, Noble said. Because direct communication is against the rules, he said that DeSantis is effectively ceding authority over his campaign operations to people who don’t answer to him.Campaigns and super PACs have for years found ways to get around restrictions on coordination.
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