Chairman of DeSantis’ ‘Never Back Down’ PAC Backs Down, Resigning Days After CEO Left

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File

The chairman of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Never Back Down” SuperPAC has stepped down after several weeks of reports of internal turmoil within the organization.

Adam Laxalt has known DeSantis since they were roommates during the governor’s naval officer training, and had DeSantis’ support for his unsuccessful 2022 Nevada Senate campaign. Laxalt joined the PAC about a month after it was launched in early March of this year, controversially taking in millions of dollars that were originally raised for a state-level PAC for DeSantis’ gubernatorial re-election effort and then bolstering that with millions of dollars from GOP megadonors.

Laxalt’s involvement in the PAC was “widely seen as Mr. DeSantis and his wife seeking to have someone they trusted monitoring the activities of the well-funded group,” reported The New York Times’ Jonathan Swan, Shane Goldmacher, and Maggie Haberman — and Never Back Down has been a crucial part of Team DeSantis’ strategy, again attracting controversy for taking over the role of providing event planning and transportation services for the cash-strapped campaign.

But it hasn’t been smooth sailing. A deliberately leaked memo that purported to offer DeSantis debate advice from the PAC drew widespread mockery and DeSantis made comments distancing himself, and a PAC spokesman admitted back in July that the governor was “way behind” the “runaway frontrunner,” former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis allies publicly groused about some of the PAC’s ad buys and other tactical moves, with several of them launching a separate Super PAC, “Fight Right, Inc.” in mid-November. The upheaval continued throughout the month as NBC News reported on Nov. 21 that the PAC’s top consultant, Jeff Roe, “nearly came to blows” with “longtime DeSantis confidant” Scott Wagner during a board and senior staff meeting.

Chris Jankowski, the PAC’s CEO, resigned on Nov. 22, issuing a statement saying that his differences with the other leaders of the group went “well beyond a difference of strategic opinion,” but not clarifying further.

At that time, Laxalt had seemed to intend to stay with the PAC, sending out an email to staff the evening of Jankowski’s resignation announcing that the chief operating officer Kristin Davidson would take over as CEO, and writing, “We look forward to hitting the ground running with all of you after the [Thanksgiving] holiday.”

But then, just over a week later, Laxalt was out the door as well.

“After nearly 26 straight months of being in a full-scale campaign, I need to return my time and attention to my family and law practice,” Laxalt wrote in a Nov. 26 letter to the board on Nov. 26, according to the Times, adding that he was still supportive of DeSantis’ campaign.

A source at Never Back Down confirmed to Mediaite that Laxalt had left the organization but did not comment further.