(TALLAHASSEE, FL) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appears to be eying a run for the presidency in 2024, cruised to reelection this month with the backing of a Rolodex of rich GOP donors — topped by an aerospace mogul who says that UFOs are real and that space aliens are here on Earth, “right under people’s noses.”
Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas hotel executive who went on to found Bigelow Aerospace with the goal of constructing the primary business space station, donated a record $10 million to a political motion committee supporting DeSantis’ reelection campaign in what was the state’s single largest political donation ever made by a person, based on campaign filings.
The donation, which was Bigelow’s first major contribution to a Florida candidate, made him DeSantis’ single biggest individual benefactor over the past two years.
After making relatively modest political donations in prior years, Bigelow ramped up his donations in 2022, writing six- to seven-figure checks to a wide range of Republican causes across the country, including donating a combined $8 million to an excellent PAC supporting Nevada Republicans running for Congress, and giving $2 million to the GOP-aligned super PAC Club for Growth Motion.
Although he made no contributions through the last election cycle to former President Donald Trump or Trump’s other fundraising vehicles, Bigelow gave contributions to an excellent PAC supporting Trump-endorsed Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, and a PAC connected to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Bigelow, who has been a vocal advocate within the seek for extraterrestrial life, told CBS’ 60 Minutes in 2017 that he’s “absolutely convinced” that aliens exist and that “there was, and is, an existing presence” of UFOs.
“I spent hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands — I probably spent more as a person than anybody else in the USA has ever spent on this subject,” Bigelow told 60 Minutes. His company was a part of a multimillion-dollar Pentagon program that investigated UFO sightings, based on The Latest York Times, which said this system reported no conclusions concerning the origin of unidentified objects.
His record contribution to DeSantis puts Bigelow on an extended list of rich supporters who could support the Florida governor if he and Trump face off within the 2024 presidential primary. GOP megadonors who’ve already endorsed DeSantis for 2024 include billionaire financier Ken Griffin, who after Election Day this month told Politico, “I believe it’s time to maneuver on to the following generation.”
Griffin, who was the GOP’s biggest donor on the federal level through the 2022 election cycle, previously gave $100,000 to Trump’s 2016 inaugural committee and has continued to donate to the Republican National Committee, which been closely aligned with Trump.
But Griffin was the second largest individual donor, after Bigelow, to a pro-DeSantis PAC, donating $5 million early within the election cycle. He later gave one other $5 million to the Republican Party of Florida, which was a significant supporter of DeSantis’ campaign.
Other big-name Trump supporters who became major DeSantis supporters this past cycle include financier Walter Buckley Jr., who donated $1.3 million to DeSantis’ PAC; Home Depot cofounder Bernard Marcus, who donated $500,000; and shipping executive Richard Uihlein, who, together together with his wife, donated a combined $1 million, based on filings.
The longtime conservative PAC Club for Growth also contributed $2 million to DeSantis’ PAC this past cycle.
Of note, Florida supermarket heiress Julie Fancelli — a significant Trump donor who reportedly helped fund the Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse — also supported DeSantis lately, giving a complete of roughly $59,000 to his PAC in 2018 and 2019.
Buoyed by support like this, allies of DeSantis last week registered a recent super PAC dubbed “Ron to the Rescue” to back his potential presidential run. The organization has already launched its first round of digital ad campaigns and this week is launching its first television ads in Iowa, only every week after Trump announced last Tuesday that he was running again in 2024.
“Right after last Tuesday, my phone was exploding with supporters urging us to maneuver forward again and get the governor’s back,” said California-based GOP operative John Thomas, who had been working on and off to prepare the super PAC over the past yr.
“The one way we saw Gov. DeSantis having a meaningful path against Trump or to the nomination was if the Republicans didn’t win the majorities within the midterms and Trump-backed candidates dramatically underperformed,” Thomas said. “Not only is that exactly what ended up happening, but on the flip side, Gov. DeSantis not only got reelected but he created his own self-made red tsunami in Florida, turning it from a swing state to a red state.”
Thomas said backers of the brand new super PAC include “some former Donald Trump donors” in addition to “traditional DeSantis supporters.” He said a “distinguished law enforcement union” can also be “financially supporting” the super PAC and endorsing DeSantis.
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