CEO of DeSantis Super PAC resigns
Chris Jankowski, the CEO of Never Back Down, the main super PAC backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid, resigned Wednesday after creating a new outside group that backed Mr. DeSantis and publicly portrayed infighting among his allies .
Mr. Jankowski sent a resignation letter to Never Back Down’s board, according to a person briefed on the matter. The dismissal was effective immediately.
The departures came after days of internal tensions within Never Back Down, which along with the DeSantis campaign has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of what super PACs typically do. Presidential campaigns are legally prohibited from coordinating with super PACs. The Never Back Down super PAC has paid for some of the candidate’s travel and tried to set up a field operation across the country and in three of the early voting states. Mr. DeSantis routinely appears at fundraisers coordinated by the super PAC and has traveled around Iowa in a super PAC-funded bus to attend super PAC events as a “special guest.”
Mr. DeSantis has a long history of cycling through different teams during his political career, a fact that people who have worked for him have attributed to his micromanagement style.
A spokeswoman for Never Back Down provided a statement from Mr. Jankowski, which said: “The primary purpose and sole focus of Never Back Down was to elect Governor Ron DeSantis as president. Given the current circumstances, it has become untenable for me to achieve the shared goal, which goes far beyond a difference of strategic opinion. For the future of our country, I support and pray that Ron DeSantis becomes our 47th president.”
In recent weeks, allies of Mr. DeSantis and his wife have repeatedly complained about ads Never Back Down aired attacking his closest rival in the primaries, Nikki Haley, on China. His allies have questioned the super PAC’s messaging and depth of ad buys, according to two people briefed on the matter. A third said some allies believed Mr. DeSantis was being blamed by voters for the negatives.
Since their inception nearly fifteen years ago, super PACs have traditionally handled negative messaging and advertising targeting a candidate’s rival. But some DeSantis allies have come to believe that his own super PAC is too closely tied to him in the eyes of voters, and that Never Back Down’s work is a reason he is struggling in the polls.
Some of the tensions flared last week during a Never Back Down strategy meeting at its Atlanta offices. The group’s chief strategist, Jeff Roe, and a board member, Scott Wagner, a college friend of Mr. DeSantis, had a heated exchange during a discussion about money, according to people briefed on the matter.
Mr Roe and Mr Wagner declined to comment on the dispute, which was first reported by NBC News.
One of the issues Never Back Down discussed last week involved the transfer of $1 million to a new entity, Fight Right, founded by close allies of Mr. DeSantis, to air spots that attacked Ms. Haley.
Some members of Never Back Down — including Ken Cuccinelli, one of the original officials — raised concerns about the group’s handling of the $1 million transfer. In an email to his colleagues, described by a person familiar with its contents, Mr. Cuccinelli wrote: “I find the way the Haley struck and its financing appears to be extremely reprehensible.” In later emails, another Never Back Down official indicated that the group had been approved to send the $1 million, and that this was going through, the person said.
Mr. Jankowski — a longtime political adviser to Leonard Leo, one of the most influential conservatives in the country’s legal circles — was the architect of a 2010 Republican program known as Redmap, short for the Redistricting Majority Project, which helped conservatives helped make gains in the rule of law. redistribution of efforts that lasted ten years.
Jonathan Swan reporting contributed.