(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The DeSantis campaign is pointing fingers at the Never Back Down PAC over the presidential effort’s ability to persuade voters through a handful of contentious commercials, Politico reported on Friday, citing individuals tied to the Florida governor.
The rumored clash between DeSantis and his allied super PAC comes as the campaign struggles to gain momentum, trailing far behind former President Donald Trump.
Additionally, the campaign has been mired in controversy following the abrupt departure of the PAC’s CEO Chris Jankowski and chair Adam Laxalt.
“The last few weeks have caused the campaign to lose confidence in multiple top NBD officials as a result of poor performance as well as rampant leaking to push false, unauthorized narratives to the press,” a person close to the governor claimed.
The alleged loss in confidence comes after Never Back Down’s strategist Jeff Roe and board member Scott Wagner got into a near physical brawl, according to NBC News.
“You have a stick up your a–, Scott,” Roe allegedly told Wagner, to which Wagner responded, “Why don’t you come over here and get it?”
The rumored fight broke out after an argument over how to best approach advertising.
“The campaign doesn’t think NBD’s current interim leadership should be within a mile of a TV budget,” remarked one of the individuals speaking to Politico.
At the time, the DeSantis campaign was blamed for negative ads against U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Specifically, the ads drew attention to her alleged ties with China. However, the ads have had little reach as Haley has positioned herself as the number two in the GOP presidential race.
In an attempt to distace itself from potentially negative ads, the DeSantis team launched a second PAC called Fight Right, further questioning whether Never Back Down would be the leading pro-DeSantis PAC ahead of GOP primaries in 2024.
DeSantis’s deputy campaign manager, David Polyansky, praised Never Back Down’s partnership with the campaign, hailing the “collective firepower of Team DeSantis. However, a DeSantis “confidant” suggested otherwise, telling Politico, “I’d expect to see them to continue to get sidelined.”
