Did Ron DeSantis Violate Federal Campaign Finance Laws With $82.5 Million Transfer?

According to financial documents, a Florida political action committee, which formerly operated as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ gubernatorial PAC, transferred $82.5 million to a pro-DeSantis PAC working to elect DeSantis for president in 2024.

Empower Parents Political Action Committee, formerly known as Friends of Ron DeSantis, transferred the funds to Never Back Down on May 31st.

Review the financial documents below:

Never Back Down states on its website:

Every election is about the future. And the future is NOT Joe Biden. America’s future rests in the hands of true leaders who don’t just talk the talk, but actually take action in the fight for freedom. Ron DeSantis is a conservative leader who fights and wins. We’re ready for a new leader who will win for us and take back our country.

Although the shifting of funds to Never Back Down was expected, it raises questions if DeSantis violated federal campaign finance laws.

🚨Update: Ron DeSantis former state political committee has transferred $82.5 million to his allied super PAC for 2024.

Ron DeSantis Scammed Florida Voters…

— RealBenGeller (@RealBenGeller) June 14, 2023

Per The Capitolist:

DeSantis, widely considered to be the main Republican rival to former President Donald Trump, easily clinched reelection in 2022 with the help of a well-funded state political committee. En route to a nearly 20-point margin of victory over state Democrat challenger Charlie Crist, the group raised more than $225 million for DeSantis, out of which $82.5 million was transferred to his national campaign.

According to DeSantis’ campaign, the Florida governor raised a record $8.2 million in the first 24 hours after he announced his 2024 presidential campaign on Twitter.

The move does not come without controversy, however. The Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a nonpartisan elections watchdog organization, claimed last month that DeSantis’ campaign has already breached finance laws.

CLC contended that the then-unconfirmed transfer of funds between PACs violates a ban on “soft money” – funds raised in circumstances where federal campaign finance laws don’t apply — due to the money that Friends of Ron DeSantis raised not being subject to federal contribution limits, source prohibitions, and reporting requirements.

The CLC filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) on May 30, 2023.

The complaint reads:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate, and Friends of Ron DeSantis, his state PAC in Florida, have violated federal campaign finance laws by directing or transferring over $80 million to Never Back Down, a federal super PAC that was reportedly organized to act as the primary outside spending vehicle backing DeSantis’s 2024 presidential campaign, and has already spent over $944,000 for that purpose.

For over twenty years, the Federal Election Campaign Act (“FECA”) has prohibited federal candidates like DeSantis, along with their agents and entities they establish, finance, maintain, or control, from spending “soft money” — including, e.g., money raised by nonfederal committees and organizations that are not subject to federal campaign finance laws — in connection with a federal election. The transfer of this colossal sum from a state PAC that DeSantis established and used to raise over $225 million, to a federal committee that has spent, and plans to continue spending, millions of dollars supporting DeSantis’s own campaign is a brazen attempt to circumvent the federal campaign finance rules that are crucial to preventing corruption and establishing transparency about how our federal elections are financed.

This complaint is filed pursuant to 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(1) and is based on information and belief that DeSantis and Friends of Ron DeSantis have violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (“FECA”), 52 U.S.C. § 30101, et seq. If the Commission, “upon receiving a complaint . . . has reason to believe that a person has committed, or is about to commit, a violation of [FECA] . . . [t]he Commission shall make an investigation of such alleged violation.”

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CNN reports:

It’s unclear whether the FEC can – or will – step in. A similar case arose during the 2020 election, concerning the management of funds by GOP Rep. Byron Donalds. The FEC took no enforcement action in that case.

DeSantis shattered fundraising records for a non-self-funded gubernatorial candidate during his reelection, raising more than $190 million between his committee and campaign in the two years leading up to the 2022 midterms. But DeSantis needed far less than that to defeat Democrat Charlie Crist and entered 2023 with tens of millions left over. He added to that amount in the months between his reelection and announcing his campaign for president.

In recent weeks, DeSantis has disassociated from his state committee; his chairperson stepped down and a new chairperson, state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a DeSantis ally, now has stewardship over the leftover funds. The committee, formerly called Friends of Ron DeSantis, changed its name to the Empower Parents PAC. And its website says the reformed political committee “supports the national advancement of issues and candidates committed to protecting parental rights in education.”

Under DeSantis, the Florida Department of State quietly changed its longstanding guidance that for years advised Florida political committees that they could not make contributions to out-of-state entities, including federal candidates and political action committees.

Versions of the handbook dating back to 2016 read, “No. A Florida political committee must use its funds solely for Florida political activities.” The version for the 2024 cycle, however, advises, “A Florida political committee may make contributions to an out-of-state political entity that engages solely in non-coordinated expenditures.”

That change benefited DeSantis, as his former political committee which once bore his name has now done exactly that.