‘Don’t Leak This’: DeSantis Super PAC Issues Urgent Plea to Donors for $50M

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The DeSantis Super PAC issued an urgent plea to donors that the campaign needs $50 million by the end of the year, during a private meeting on August 23 in Milwaukee right before the last Republican primary debate, according to reports.

During the meeting, chief strategist for the Super PAC, Jeff Roe, told donors, “Now let me tell you a secret — don’t leak this,” according to a recording reviewed by the New York Times.

“The day after Labor Day we’re launching and we need your help to stay up and go hard the rest of the way. We need 50 million bucks,” he reportedly said.

Roe said he needed the $50 million “in the next month” before the second Republican primary debate, on September 27 — which would include $5 million per month just to sustain Iowa operations, the Times reported.

According to a report by CNN, the super PAC’s CEO Chris Jankowski, who was also at the meeting, emphasized the urgency of the situation.

“We just need your help getting $50 million more by the end of the year, and $100 million more by the end of March,” he said. “I’m not worried about the second 50. We need the first 50.”

Roe painted the situation as dire, according to the Times’ report.

He said DeSantis needed to beat former President Donald Trump “in the next 60 days” and separate from all of his other rivals “now.”

He even told donors that he would meet them in the T.S.A. line at the airport to collect their checks, saying, “This doesn’t run on, you know, fumes.”

“We’re going to go spend this money right now, betting that our donors won’t let us down. And I’ve been let down by donors a lot. And I’ve already lost once to Trump and we can’t do it again,” he said, referencing 2016.

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