As his campaign runs low on cash, DeSantis turns to big Florida businesses for help

Executives at companies like Florida Power & Light, Mosaic and The GEO Group are helping to keep Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign afloat, new records show.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

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Nearly 60 executives at the corporation that owns Florida’s largest electric company gave more than $100,000 combined this summer to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign, according to a Seeking Rents analysis of new campaign-finance reports.

The DeSantis donors included virtually the entire C-suite at Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy Inc., the Fortune 500 giant that owns Florida Power & Light — including the company’s chief executive officer, chief financial officer, head of human resources, and the presidents of both its major divisions.

FPL, the monopoly power company for more than 12 million people in Florida, could really use some help from the DeSantis administration right now. Earlier this year, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a state regulatory agency run by DeSantis appointees to explain why it awarded FPL a roughly $5 billion rate increase in 2021 that allows FPL to earn fatter profits than other power companies. Opponents of the record-setting rate hike have asked the state’s high court to throw out the deal.

The six-figure cash infusion from FPL comes as DeSantis’ presidential campaign runs low on money in the race for the Republican nomination for president, partly because of spending on perks like private jet travel. It’s a reminder that — for however poorly DeSantis has performed on the national stage so far — he still wields enormous leverage over people and businesses in Florida who want favors from his administration.

Florida Power & Light isn’t the only such business that DeSantis tapped for cash during the July-through-September fundraising quarter.

For instance, records show the Florida governor pocketed at least $29,000 from executives at disaster-response firm AshBritt Inc., including the company’s CEO, controller, and three vice presidents.

He also took at least $31,000 from phosphate miner and fertilizer manufacturer Mosaic Co., including Mosaic’s CEO, president, general counsel, and chief lobbyist.

DeSantis collected at least $44,000 from senior leaders at The GEO Group Inc., a company that runs prisons for profit. The GEO execs who cut checks to DeSantis included the company’s chairman, CEO, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and general counsel.

And DeSantis banked at least $87,000 from executives at Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock International, the gambling companies owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. More than three dozen Hard Rock and Seminole officials gave to the governor’s presidential campaign — ranging from the chairman and CEO to the vice president in charge of table games in Tampa and the head of Hard Rock’s Asia operations.

DeSantis’ true take from most of these companies is likely higher, as records show that family members of some executives also wrote checks to his presidential campaign.

As with FPL, these companies aren’t just donating to DeSantis. They’re also doing business with his administration.

AshBritt, for instance, is currently contracting with DeSantis’ Department of Environmental Protection to do debris removal following Hurricane Idalia. Mosaic is working with his Department of Transportation on plans to build a road using the mildly radioactive waste produced at the chemical factories where Mosaic makes fertilizer.

The GEO Group recently renewed a contract with Florida to manage the 2,000-bed Blackwater River prison in the Panhandle. And DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe are currently fighting together in court to preserve a $2.5 billion gambling deal the governor agreed to with the Tribe in 2021.

Immediately after DeSantis launched his campaign for president in May, senior staffers in his administration began pressuring lobbyists in the Florida Capitol to give money to his campaign. NBC News reported at the time that taxpayer-paid staffers in the Governor’s Office sent text messages to lobbyists asking them to donate — right as DeSantis was debating whether to sign or veto bills and budget projects that had passed during Florida’s just-concluded legislative session.

The squeeze seemed to work: DeSantis ultimately raised at least $300,000 from lobbyists during the April-through-June fundraising quarter.

The new records show DeSantis continues milking the Tallahassee lobbying corps for money, too. For instance, he took at least $93,000 during the July-through-September quarter just from lobbyists at the state’s three highest-grossing firms. That’s on top of the $78,000 he’d already banked from lobbyists at Ballard Partners, Capital Cities Consulting, and The Southern Group.