TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Taxpayer-funded staffers in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office have been making fundraising calls to state lobbyists, asking them to commit to raise money for a DeSantis-aligned political committee as Casey DeSantis considers a campaign for governor, according to five sources who either received the calls or have direct knowledge of them.
The governor’s office and the staffers said to have been on the calls denied that they happened. And Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife, has not yet decided if she will run to succeed him in 2026. But she has openly hinted at the idea, which has increasingly become a point of political intrigue in the state — and prompted DeSantis’ political operation to try to slow the fundraising pace of Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who has already announced his bid for governor and received President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer for most of us. Of course we will give. He’s the governor,” said one person who said they received a call. Like the others who received or were told about the calls, the person spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss the conversations without fear of retribution.
“I mean, my kid has to eat,” the person continued.
When asked about the calls, DeSantis’ communications director Bryan Griffin said, “This is completely untrue and I strongly caution you against publishing such potentially defamatory allegations.”
He did not respond to follow-up questions about what information he disputed.
NBC News reported earlier this month that DeSantis’ political team was calling state lobbyists and asking them to not give to Donalds, according to seven people familiar with that effort. But over the past week, those efforts have included specific requests for lobbyists to give or raise money for a DeSantis-aligned political committee, which would be able to support Casey DeSantis if she were to run.
And unlike the calls previously reported by NBC News, recent calls came from taxpayer-funded staffers in the governor’s office, as opposed to political operatives.
The calls, four sources told NBC News, were made by the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Anastasios Kamoutsas, and legislative affairs director Peter Cuderman. (The fifth source said they were aware of the calls but did not say who in DeSantis’ office made them.) At least some of the calls were made during what would be considered traditional business hours.
Kamoutsas wrote in an email to NBC News: “You have a bad source, this is false.” Cuderman, also reached by email, wrote: “It’s not true. I’m not sure where the misinformation originated, but such claims are entirely false.”
Given the degree of control the Florida governor’s office has over how state funds are spent, the use of state employees to help in the raising of campaign money — whether those people have a formal or informal campaign role — raises ethical questions about the intermingling of official government business and political efforts. Raising political cash is generally handled by political and campaign staffers who aren’t officially involved in governmental functions.
But it is not unheard of from the DeSantis political team. During Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential bid, his then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier, organized a group of top administration officials to try to raise money from state lobbyists. It was seen as unprecedented at the time and caught off-guard many state lobbyists, who generally help finance state-level races but do not regularly give to federal campaigns.
At the time, Ben Wilcox, co-founder of the nonpartisan government watchdog group Integrity Florida, said using taxpayer-funded staff for political fundraising is out of the ordinary.
“Candidates who are also public officials are supposed to draw a bright line between their campaign and public office,” he said. “It sure looks bad to the taxpaying public.”
Florida’s election code does prevent a political candidate from using “the services of any state, county, municipal, or district officer or employee during work hours.” But government employees could volunteer on campaigns during their hours off work.
This round of calls is going out in the middle of Florida’s two-month legislative session, the period of time when lawmakers meet in Tallahassee to pass legislation and the annual state budget. The process concludes with the governor having veto authority over legislation and line-item veto authority over the state budget, giving Ron DeSantis an ultra-fine degree of control over whether certain projects or initiatives get state funding.
“It’s not like the calls included them listing our priorities or anything,” said another lobbyist who said they received one of the phone calls. “But it’s pretty clear that that stuff is being watched, and this time the calls were, if you were, coming from inside the house.”
Ron DeSantis’ political power over Florida’s political ecosystem, which was once seen as endless, is also now waning. When he ran for president, he was overwhelmingly popular among Republicans in Florida and beyond, and he had significant power over the party, which gave him more sway to earn contributions.
But now, the governor’s 2024 presidential aspirations are in the rearview mirror, he is a lame duck, and he is engaged in protracted fights with members of his own party who lead the state legislature for the first time in his two terms. That decreased profile, coupled with the fundraising appeals to lobbyists, is breeding annoyance among some who are getting the calls.
“It seems once again we are supposed to be the political piggy bank,” said another who received one of the calls. “The same people are the ones who keep being asked to give, and now some of that goodwill just does not exist.”
Federal super PACs that supported her husband’s run for president still have roughly $5 million in the bank, according to campaign finance filings — money that could give Casey DeSantis an early boost if she decides to run for governor.
But beyond the shot in the arm Donalds got from an early Trump endorsement, he has quickly stashed away roughly $5 million in his own state political committee, boosted by $1.5 million in transfers from his congressional campaign account and an aligned super PAC, according to campaign finance filings.
In addition, Donalds has a May fundraiser scheduled at Mar-a-Lago.
There is some hope among DeSantis supporters that Trump may give a dual endorsement, or at the very least not lean in hard publicly supporting Donalds beyond the endorsement, but the fundraiser itself will be a key tell.
“If Trump is not there, or it’s just a regular event, that’s one thing,” said a veteran Florida GOP fundraiser. “But if he is there, and gives remarks and praises Byron in front of a room like that, it’s clear where things are headed.”
