Friendlies in Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis Plans to Fundraise for Donald Trump

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to fundraise for former President Donald Trump's White House bid, after previously challenging him in the GOP primary, three sources told NBC News.

DeSantis reportedly told donors on Saturday during a private retreat that he intends to help raise money for Trump's campaign while standing in front of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The appreciation retreat, also attended by Florida's First Lady Casey DeSantis, was for large donors, major fundraisers, and finance committee members of the DeSantis campaign.

Texas businessman Roy Bailey, who was a co-chair of DeSantis’ national finance advisory board and attended the retreat told CNN,

He’s committed to helping Trump in any and every way. We are going to follow his lead, and we’re excited to do everything we can to get Trump elected. If we can unlock and motivate our donors for Trump and put more fuel in his tank, that’s what we want to do, and that’s what we need to do to make sure [President Joe] Biden is not reelected.

Bailey, who previously assisted in raising money for Trump's 2020 campaign, added,

I know where there are DeSantis supporters all over Texas and all over the country that will want to help President Trump. So that’s what I’ll try to make happen.

It is not clear if the Trump campaign is accepting DeSantis' assistance with open arms after a contentious primary between the two Floridian political figureheads, with DeSantis endorsing the former President after he suspended his own campaign in January.

In his concession speech, the Governor said,

While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear.
I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear -- a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism -- that Nikki Haley represents.

He later remanded former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for not upholding the RNC pledge she signed by refusing to endorse Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee.

DeSantis said,

And so for me, I tell people, you know, if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it.

In March, during a news conference, DeSantis was asked if he would join Trump on the campaign trail and he responded by suggesting that Florida was no longer a "competitive" state, saying,

This is not going to be a state that’s competitive in November, and that’s just the reality. So I don’t anticipate there being much campaign here for the top of the ticket. How I can help nationally, I want to be able to do that, I don’t know exactly.

The private retreat for DeSantis' donors and bundlers occurred in South Florida on the same weekend that the record-breaking $50 million fundraiser was held for the Trump 47 Committee in Palm Beach. The Trump fundraiser nearly doubled a March 28 Biden campaign fundraiser held in New York that featured former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, raking in $26 million.

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