- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had a historic win on Election Day.
- The big victory has one Super PAC pushing for him to run for president in 2024 against Trump.
Plans for a Super PAC supporting a Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis presidential run are back on after a weak showing for former President Donald Trump's favored candidates.
This is a reversal from just a few months ago. GOP strategist John Thomas, who is leading the soon-to-be unveiled super PAC called Ron to the Rescue, told Insider in August that DeSantis should not run for president against Trump. He'd even paused plans for the super PAC this summer after the primaries, in which Trump's endorsed candidates did well. Trump, apparently pleased, shared the Insider interview on Truth Social.
But Thomas, founder and president of the political advertising and strategy group Thomas Partners Strategies, told Insider on Friday that the midterms have reset the calculus. Even in August, he'd said the one caveat for DeSantis pursuing a 2024 presidential run would be poor performance for Trump-favored Republicans in the midterms.
That caveat became reality on Tuesday. In addition to Trump's weak showing, DeSantis won Florida by a historic, nearly 20-point margin that Thomas called "the perfect cascading of events politically for the governor." Now, Thomas told Insider, his plans for the Super PAC are back on "full throttle with seven-figure gifts" and the group is ready to "get this show on the road."
"This feels to me very much like 2008 where DeSantis is Obama and then Trump is Hillary," Thomas told Insider in an interview on Friday. His thinking is that now, just like back then, "the electorate was ready for a bright, fresh new face that can transform American politics and most importantly: win." Ahead of the interview, he texted Insider, saying: 'Ron vs. the Don. I'm here for it.'"
Ron to the Rescue will be launching before Thanksgiving, Thomas told Insider, and would begin producing ads and "start making some noise for the governor."
"Not only are my original donors thrilled and jazzed to start cutting checks, but I've received some calls from very large law-enforcement unions that are going to throw in six figures to start, and lend me their name and credibility in the ads," he said. "There are public safety leaders that are longing for DeSantis' leadership on crime and immigration. Some very large police groups."
The coalition that Thomas has assembled isn't just never Trumpers, he said, but also "people that like Donald Trump."
"I think they're going to be some eyebrow raises of people you thought that were always pro-Trump — and still are — but that are going to stand behind DeSantis early on," he said.
Super PAC will make the case for a fresh face
DeSantis, 44, hasn't said whether he plans to serve out all four years as governor. Trump, meanwhile, has a press conference scheduled for Tuesday in which he appears to be lining up an official 2024 White House run.
The former president, 76, has been bashing DeSantis on Truth Social, saying that he hasn't been adequately loyal to him after he endorsed DeSantis for governor in 2018. DeSantis has not responded to the insults.
Ron to the Rescue will work to give DeSantis the "political courage to step up and run, and show him that the American people have his back," Thomas said. It would also work to make the case that DeSantis would be the best fit to be the GOP nominee, as well as give supporters a way to donate toward the cause.
"We want to harness that energy and give people an outlet," he said. 'Then when the time's right, if the governor announces, we want to be able to transfer, legally, as much of that energy to the governor and his potential campaign as possible."
A challenge to Trump wouldn't be easy, Thomas warned, particularly if numerous other Republicans enter the 2024 contest. If that happens, he said, then Trump could more easily splinter the vote, winning a plurality of support and making it more difficult for DeSantis to become the nominee.
"Trump still has somewhat of a vise-like grip on a portion of the Republican electorate," he said. "The question is, is there a portion large enough in a Republican primary to handily defeat any challengers like DeSantis?"
Thomas said he thought DeSantis should announce a presidential run soon after the new year. If Trump announces on November 15 as planned, Thomas said, then coverage of him will dominate through the holidays.
Waiting until the new year would allow DeSantis to also gauge any cracks in Trump's support, and to assess Trump's weaknesses and see where the contrasts are between the two men. Thomas also noted that Trump is already bashing DeSantis, so the governor can remain in the headlines without engaging the former president.
DeSantis shouldn't wait until after the legislative session that will run from March to May 2023 because he should make his case while the midterms are still fresh, Thomas said.
"If he waits and allows Trump to lock up the donors, the political operatives, the consensus thought, I think he's going to miss his moment and opportunity to race into the field as the fresh face of the Republican Party who's most viable to take back power across the board and create a tsunami for the rest of the country, not just Florida," Thomas said.