At least two dozen of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2022 campaign employees are currently on the payroll of the Florida Republican Party, according to the party’s Q1 2023 expenditure report.
DeSantis and his team have been coy about the governor’s presidential aspirations, with the governor speaking in hypothetical terms about his candidacy and declining to directly confront front-runner former President Donald Trump. The Florida GOP’s filings with Secretary of State Cord Byrd’s office tell a different story, however. The state party’s expenditures list includes payroll for 24 current or former employees of the DeSantis campaign, including former state press secretary Christina Pushaw.
The Florida GOP’s hiring of speechwriter Nate Hochman and former DeSantis congressional aide Dustin Carmack have been previously reported, but the DeSantis team’s broader staffing strategy has not. The Daily Caller was tipped to the story when one Florida Republican staffer emailed from a rondesantis.com email address while purporting to do business for the state GOP.
