Chief Strategist Resigns from Super PAC Backing DeSantis

Facts

• Jeff Roe, chief strategist for Never Back Down, the lead super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during his run for the Republican presidential nomination, resigned on Saturday.¹
• In a statement posted to X, Roe called DeSantis an “exceptional governor” who he hopes will win the presidency, and he wished the DeSantis campaign “the best.”²
• Roe’s resignation comes just weeks after Never Back Down fired three of its top officials, including its CEO. Nevada AG Adam Laxalt, who was the board chairman, and Chris Jankowski, the super PAC’s president, have also left.³
• The super PAC’s new chairman, Scott Wagner, was quoted in a Washington Post story criticizing the former employees. In an updated statement he provided to the paper, Wagner said the super PAC and some senior officials split after “some opinions regarding mismanagement and conduct issues," including concerns about the leaking of false information.⁴
• Also in his statement, Roe said he couldn’t “in good conscience” stay with the super PAC after reading the comments in the Post, calling them “not true” and an “unwanted distraction.”⁵
• DeSantis trails former Pres. Donald Trump, the frontrunner, by a wide margin in polling from Iowa, which will kick off the nominating process next month. DeSantis is also behind Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in New Hampshire polls.⁴

Sources: ¹New York Times, ²FOX News, ³POLITICO, ⁴CBS, and ⁵Daily Caller.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by The Guardian. It’s hard to believe that at one point, Republicans were looking to detach their party from Trump and that DeSantis was going to be their standard-bearer. But DeSantis’ campaign never gained the expected traction, despite some potentially illegal coordination between the campaign and Never Back Down. This super PAC shakeup confirms that if anyone’s going to stop Trump from winning the nomination, it won’t be DeSantis.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Dating back to his time running Sen. Ted Cruz’s failed bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, Roe has had a losing track record. So Never Back Down made a mistake of putting him in charge, and DeSantis greatly erred by focusing so much on Iowa and counting heavily on a super PAC. Assuming DeSantis’ campaign is close to its end, it should serve as a lesson to future Republican candidates that relying on a super PAC is an outdated campaign model.
• Nerd narrative, as provided by Metaculus. There’s a 92% chance that Trump will be the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, according to the Metaculus prediction community.