After seeing no progress in the polls against former President Donald Trump, Ken Griffin, Citadel CEO and Republican mega-donor, is reportedly reevaluating his support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Before DeSantis formally announced his presidential candidacy, Griffin gave $5 million to his reelection campaign as governor. As reported last November, Griffin was prepared to back DeSantis for president, telling media outlets that the current Florida governor had an excellent track record and that the US would benefit from him in the Oval Office.
But now, Griffin is one of several funders concerned about the future of DeSantis’ presidential campaign.
According to Griffin spokesman Zia Ahmed, the GOP megadonor still weighs his options among potential nominees such as Sen. Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, former VP Mike Pence, and Chris Christie. But Ahmed insisted that Griffin hasn’t altered his tune regarding the election.
Andrew Romero, a spokesman for DeSantis’s campaign, dismissed claims that Griffin hesitated to back the Florida governor with his multimillion-dollar war fund.
According to reports, Griffin was reportedly reluctant to endorse him after meeting with DeSantis in the weeks preceding his announcement.
One of DeSantis’ closest aides called former President Donald Trump the runaway frontrunner, and Desantis hasn’t gained any ground against Trump in the polls.
When the Florida governor officially joined the campaign in May, a Harvard survey showed Trump with a 67 percent to 33 percent lead against DeSantis. In many states, such as Wisconsin, South Carolina, New York, New Hampshire, and Iowa, Trump leads DeSantis by double digits.
Last week, news emerged that Rupert Murdoch also has begun to doubt that Ron DeSantis can beat Donald Trump.
In more distressing news for Desantis, Charlie Kirk recently declared that Trump triumphed in the Turning Point USA straw poll with 85 percent of the vote. Vivek Ramaswamy came in at number two, with more votes than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
According to a report, Trump’s massive advantage in the Republican primary has not been eroded by the DeSantis campaign. Yet Governor DeSantis denies reports of an eroding campaign, saying they were the imaginations of the media used to undermine him.
