Ron DeSantis ready to wade into 2026 fights with familiar political committee

Ron DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis is repurposing a political committee used in the 2024 election cycle to defeat measures he opposed, as he eyes progress in an increasingly fractious Tallahassee and enters his final two years in the top job in state government.

The Governor is ready to put his donors’ money where his mouth is.

“The Florida Freedom Fund was instrumental in raising huge sums of $ to defeat Amendments 3 and 4 in 2024. For the 2026 cycle, the FFF will raise even more resources (1) to ensure support for a strong conservative gubernatorial candidate and (2) to support strong conservative candidates in legislative primaries. We need to elect strong leaders who will build off FL’s success and who will deliver on the promises made to voters,” DeSantis posted to social media Thursday.

There likely will be some structural changes.

James Uthmeier currently chairs the fund and is DeSantis’ current Chief of Staff. But the Governor says he wants to pick Uthmeier as Florida’s Attorney General, meaning someone else would likely have to fulfill the fund’s leadership role.

The fund has already been successful. Amendment 3 — which sought to legalize adult-use marijuana without medical necessity — and Amendment 4 — which sought to enshrine abortion access into the state constitution — both appeared to be on track to pass with more than 60% support last year before DeSantis formed the political committee. But after dumping huge amounts into each opposition campaign, both failed to reach the 60% vote threshold needed to pass.

The committee closed out 2023 with more than $2.1 million on hand, a sizable chunk of change proving DeSantis’ fundraising prowess was still in play.

DeSantis is currently at odds with Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson in light of a legislative push to give Simpson control of immigration enforcement. A bill doing such for Simpson, who is a likely candidate for Governor, was passed during the Special Session this week. A veto is expected.