‘You Have a Stick Up Your A–’: Pro-DeSantis Super PAC Reportedly Dogged by Infighting

AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel

Leaders of a super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) 2024 presidential campaign reportedly descended into chaotic infighting in recent days and “nearly came to blows” during a meeting last week.

NBC News reported on Tuesday that during a private meeting last week to discuss how to combat Nikki Haley’s rise in the polls, Jeff Roe and Scott Wagner – who both hold top positions at the PAC – “got into a heated argument.”

During the meeting with a “small group of nine board members and senior staff” to discuss budgeting, Roe reportedly raged, “You have a stick up your a–, Scott.”

“Why don’t you come over here and get it?” Wagner responded, according to a source in the room who spoke to NBC. He then reportedly rose from his chair, but “he was quickly restrained by two fellow board members.”

The lengthy and detailed NBC report carried four bylines, Dasha Burns, Matt Dixon, Natasha Korecki, and Jonathan Allen, and expounded on the implications of the heated exchange on DeSantis’s ailing campaign:

The infighting represents an escalation in the long-running war between Never Back Down’s professional political operatives and DeSantis’ Tallahassee-based inner circle over who is to blame for the governor’s failure to compete effectively with front-runner Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. DeSantis’ monthslong tumble created an opening for Haley, whose surging poll numbers and newfound affection from megadonors pose an existential threat to the Florida governor’s campaign.

The report went on to note that “DeSantis and his wife, Casey, have been among those increasingly upset at Never Back Down’s leadership, according to two sources familiar with their thinking. And, after tempers flared at last week’s meeting, three close DeSantis allies — David Dewhirst, Jeff Aaron, and Scott Ross — launched a second super PAC, Fight Right Inc., in part at their urging.”

Read the full NBC News report here.

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