One of Ron DeSantis’ biggest donors may cut off the presidential candidate’s 2024 campaign if he doesn’t adopt a more “moderate approach.”
Robert Bigelow, the founder of Budget Suites of America and Bigelow Aerospace, said that DeSantis needs to shift his agenda to target moderates or he risks losing his support.
“He does need to shift to get to moderates. He’ll lose if he doesn’t … Extremism isn’t going to get you elected,” Bigelow said, adding that his funding wouldn’t resume “until I see that he’s able to generate more on his own.”
“Not until I see that he’s able to generate more on his own. I’m already too big a percentage,” he continued. “A lot of his donors are still on the fence.”
The billionaire has already given $20 million to the Never Back Down pro-DeSantis super PAC. Bigelow is also regarded as the Florida governor’s biggest individual donor.
The news comes after several weeks of struggling to fulfill fundraising expectations and staff reductions totaling 38 for DeSantis’ campaign. The reorganization is an effort to “streamline operations and put Ron DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary,” according to his team.
Despite the governor’s efforts on the campaign trail in early primary states, polls show that former President Donald Trump still has a significant lead against DeSantis. This week’s Iowa survey showed Trump leading the Florida governor by 24 points.
During an interview on Fox News recently, DeSantis dismissed early mediocre poll numbers and criticized President Joe Biden’s “Bidenomics” initiative.
“Bidenomics in a nutshell, is: ‘You pay more for the necessities of life. Your standard of living goes down, the government gets bigger and more powerful. And ultimately China will benefit from a lot of stuff,” the Florida governor said at the time.
He also said that early polling numbers do not bother him, as the first primary contests are still months away.
“[O]f any Republican in the country, I have the best record of defeating the left. On issue after issue, and we’ll be making that case over the next six or seven months. I’m running to win in January and February. I’m not running to juice polling now,” the presidential hopeful added.
