Jesse Scheckner
Count House Speaker Daniel Perez as an ardent member of “Team Donalds.”
Two political committees Perez chairs — Miami United PC and Conservatives for a Better Florida — gave $500,000 apiece to Friends of Byron Donalds PAC, which is supporting Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds’ campaign for Governor.
Friends of Byron Donalds PAC included the combined $1 million gain in a running donations ledger online.
Both contributions were recorded on Aug. 27. Perez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other notable contributions the political committee accepted over the past month include $1 million from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, $125,000 from a Tampa-based company associated with TECO Energy, and $80,000 from Clermont-based construction executive Sonya Montgomery.
Donalds’ PAC also received $50,000 from Heritage P&C Insurance Company, which Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation fined $1 million last year for hundreds of violations of state regulation, and $25,000 from The Right Path For Florida, the political committee of future House Speaker Mike Redondo.
Perez’s donations come after an especially contentious Session between the House Speaker and Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Donalds is running to succeed.
For the first time in his governorship, DeSantis found himself at odds with a top Republican in the Legislature. The rift emerged over several high-stakes issues, from immigration policy and budget quarrels to a House investigation into the fundraising arm of First Lady Casey DeSantis’ Hope Florida nonprofit, which received $10 million from a Medicaid contractor that later supported political committees allied with the Governor.
The clash quickly turned personal, with DeSantis at one point calling House lawmakers “treacherous” and Perez firing back that the “emotional” Governor was throwing “temper tantrums.”
In a June interview with The New York Times, Perez framed his approach as an effort to “reassert the House as a coequal branch of government,” winning praise from DeSantis critics and supporters of governmental checks and balances alike.
Perez’s prioritization of the Legislature’s independence marked a sharp break from DeSantis’ first six years in office, when GOP lawmakers reliably fell in line behind the Governor’s priorities.
Perez’s $1 million donation to Donalds — comprising the two largest single contributions either of his political committees have ever made to one candidate — confirms he’s still not interested in toeing DeSantis’ line.
Donalds, who previously served alongside Perez in the House, is widely considered the front-runner of next year’s Governor’s race, due, in part, to his sizable war chest and endorsements from top Republican figures like President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and many of Donalds’ Florida GOP colleagues in Congress.
One name conspicuously missing from Donalds’ list of supporters is DeSantis himself, who appears to be holding out for another candidate to enter the contest or for the GOP field to thin out.
There are currently eight Republicans running for Governor, including Paul Renner, who preceded Perez as the House’s top official and filed paperwork for the race Wednesday.
Despite Renner’s reliable support of legislation the Governor pushed, DeSantis said he won’t be backing the former Speaker.
Other GOP pols who either confirmed or were reported to be considering a run include the First Lady, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
