Mitch Perry
FreedomWorks PAC endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday in his run for U.S. Senate in Florida.
“I’m proud that Congressman DeSantis is the first endorsement of the 2016 cycle by FreedomWorks PAC. Congressman DeSantis is a fiscal conservative leader who will bring much-needed leadership on important issues to the U.S. Senate,” FreedomWorks PAC Chairman Adam Brandon said in a prepared statement. “Congressman DeSantis has been a leader on everything from reducing federal spending, trying to stop ObamaCare, and opposing Common Core. I’m confident that our members will be very excited to help him win in November.”
The 36-year-old DeSantis’ entry into the race makes him the first major Republican Party member to announce for the Senate contest. A resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, he represents Florida’s 6th Congressional District, which includes a part of Jacksonville in the north to the area south of Daytona Beach, including Flagler County, and most of Volusia. He’s on the House Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Government Reform committees.
He begins the campaign with more than $1 million that he’ll transfer from a House campaign account.
FreedomWorks PAC is the political action committee formed from FreedomWorks, a leading Tea Party-based group co-founded by former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey and now led by Matt Tibbe.
In the release, the PAC praises DeSantis as having proven himself to be a “courageous fiscal conservative and defender of freedom.”
“DeSantis has consistently shown the courage and commitment to stand up and vote against irresponsible debt limit increases and out-of-control budgets,” the group states in its new release. They also note that he’s scored a FreedomWorks lifetime score of 92 percent.
Marco Rubio currently occupies the Senate seat that DeSantis seeks. Rubio has said he won’t run for re-election next year as he concentrates on his presidential candidacy.
Jupiter U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy is the only major Democrat to announce his candidacy for the seat.
