DeSantis super PAC pleaded for $50 million from wealthy donors on day of first GOP debate – and pushed for campaign to lean on ‘warm and humble’ wife Casey to make Ron more likeable, leaked audio shows

A Ron DeSantis-affiliated super PAC begged wealthy donors to raise $50 million before the end of the year — just hours before the Florida governor’s first GOP debate.

The Never Back Down political action committee spoke to dozens of wealthy Republican backers about how they’re going to lean on the “warm and humble” Casey to make Ron more likeable in the unfolding campaign.

Leaked audio from the meeting, published by CNNrevealed how the strategists see Trump’s growing campaign and how DeSantis needs to present himself to win more voters on his side.

CEO Chris Jankowski told donors on Aug. 23, “We just need your help to get an additional $50 million by the end of the year, and another $100 million by the end of March.

“I’m not worried about the second fifty. We need the first fifty.’

The Never Back Down political action committee — whose CEO is Chris Jankowski (pictured) — talked to dozens of wealthy backers about how they’re going to lean on the “warm and humble” Casey to make Ron more likeable in the unfolding campaign

Presenting DeSantis as a family man and using his wife in his campaign will make him more recognizable to voters, the super PAC told its donors at a rally ahead of its first GOP debate in Wisconsin.

He made his plea at a fundraising luncheon just hours before Florida’s governor took the stage for the Republican Party’s first presidential debate. Sixty wealthy donors were in the audience, including former Trump campaign finance chief Roy Bailey.

Never Back Down acted as something of a shadow campaign for DeSantis after initially receiving $82.5 million from his own state political commission.

Not only does the organization perform and monitor DeSantis’ usual campaign duties, but Never Back Down also plans its travel events and connects with potential donors.

During the hour-long Never Back Down presentation, COO Kristin Davison and chief strategist Jeff Roe spoke to the audience about DeSantis’ chances leading up to the primary, as well as their long-term strategies.

Roe ironically told the donors, “Now let me tell you a secret: Don’t let this leak.”

According to CNN, they said they would lean more heavily on Casey – Ron’s glamorous wife and mother of their three children – during the presidential campaign.

Davison told the crowd, “They’re remodeling an entire room with her help. She just brings a level of humility and warmth.”

And the presentation was about how DeSantis’s selling point in the eyes of voters, according to their data, is the fact that he has a military background, is a “worker,” and his family image.

This was a facet that DeSantis emphasized later that night in the Republican speech—when he told the crowd in Milwaukee that he had “minimum wage jobs to make ends meet.”

Chris Jankowski and his organization run and monitor DeSantis’ usual campaign duties, plan his travel events and liaise with potential backers

Never Back Down acted as a sort of shadow campaign for DeSantis after initially receiving $82.5 million from his own state political commission

The donor presentation also touched on how DeSantis stands against Trump’s campaign — and shared their goal of getting more than 100,000 Iowans to the Florida rally.

But executives expressed concern about Trump’s natural way of earning free and organic media attention — and how the former president’s indictments have actually had a positive impact on his campaign.

Jankowski, Davison and Roe spent their time persuading donors to help them overcome Trump’s ostensibly advantageous position in this regard. They reiterated that they have 60 days to get ahead of Trump.

In the audio clip heard by CNN, Davison said, “Donald Trump probably gets about $30 million a day in earned media.

“We’re number two, making about $5 (million) to $6 million every day. Where you see the peaks are after each charge.

“After each indictment, it’s $100 million in earned media, and in a presidential race, no news is bad news.

“What we really learned in 2016 is that Donald Trump dominated the deserving media and we’re seeing that happening now.”

The donor presentation also touched on DeSantis’ opposition to Trump’s campaign — and shared their goal of getting more than 100,000 Iowans to the Floridan caucus.

Casey DeSantis, wife of Republican presidential nominee Ron DeSantis, waves as he appears for a “Fair-Side Chat” hosted by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (not pictured) at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, US, 12 August 2023

Roe added, “We can’t lose to Trump. If Trump is the nominee, we will lose the White House. If we lose the White House, we lose the Senate.

And if we lose the Senate, we lose the House. And (the Democrats) will be in charge of the full House, Senate and White House for the next two years.”

The super PAC’s goal for the end of the year is $50 million, they announced.

About $25 million of this is earmarked for spending airtime between Labor Day and Halloween in New Hampshire and Iowa to raise support, CNN reports.

In the most recent fundraiser this year, half of the $47 million came from Robert Bigelow, a Nevada businessman and aerospace entrepreneur.

Roe also made light of the other Republican candidates aside from Trump and DeSantis, saying voters view Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina as nice, but not seen as presidential.

He also told the audience that Nikki Haley was “not really a nice person,” the paper reports New York times.

News of Never Back Down’s leaked strategies comes after DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that another super PAC for DeSantis, “Ron to the Rescue,” would close.

Donors who had contributed $50 million pulled out, while the founder said the Florida governor’s campaign was guilty of “rookie s**t” mistakes and will now support Donald Trump.

John Thomas, a Republican strategist known as the “Billy the Kid of political battles,” founded “Ron to the Rescue” in November and had secured funding from mega-wealthy donors.

But he said donors began to have doubts after the failed launch of the DeSantis campaign on Twitter Spaces in May.

It appeared to be the final blow to DeSantis after a tree fell on the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee on Wednesday during Hurricane Idalia. His wife Casey DeSantis and their three children were home at the time, but no one was hurt.

But the DeSantis team has said for nearly a year that Thomas’s PAC used his name and likeness without his permission and could be considered a “scam.”