The high-dollar fundraiser will take place in Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis will appear as a special guest next week at a fundraiser for a pro-Trump Super PAC in Milwaukee, lending his name to the effort to reelect his former GOP primary rival in a show of party unity.
DeSantis’s attendance is expected to help draw high-dollar donors as tickets to the Right for America dinner, which will take place on July 17 during the Republican National Convention. Tickets cost $50,000 per person and $75,000 per couple, and all funds from the event will be used to help reelect Trump in November.
“We are thrilled that Governor DeSantis will be a special guest at an upcoming fundraiser for Right For America in Milwaukee,” Connor Hickey, an official with Right for America, told NR in a statement.
While MAGA Inc. is the main super PAC supporting Trump’s reelection bid, Right for America is one of many outside fundraising entities that have recently emerged to help the presumptive GOP nominee win this fall. The group was founded by Trump ally Sergio Gor and its largest contributions thus far have come from billionaire former Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter and his wife, Laura, according to the group’s most recent Federal Election Commission filing. Right for America had $27 million on hand as of early April, according to fundraising numbers the group shared that month with the New York Times, though a person familiar with the matter said the group’s cash on hand is “much higher” now.
Next Wednesday’s pro-Trump fundraiser represents a political reconciliation of sorts between the Florida governor and the man he challenged for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. After brutally attacking each other on the campaign trail for months, DeSantis’s distant second-place showing in the Iowa caucuses led him to suspend his campaign on January 21 and immediately endorse the frontrunner. About an hour after that announcement, Trump said he’d decided to “officially” retire his former rival’s nickname – “DeSanctimonious.”
The July 17 event also gives DeSantis the opportunity to spend time with high-dollar donors as he prepares for a tough electoral fight against two separate abortion and marijuana legalization-related ballot initiatives in the Sunshine State this fall. The appearance will also help DeSantis pad his donor contact list as he weighs his own political future beyond Florida.
DeSantis is also expected to get a speaking slot at the convention, Politico reported. Missing from this year’s RNC speaking lineup is former presidential contender Nikki Haley, who is releasing her 97 delegates and encouraging them to vote for Trump at the convention. A Haley spokeswoman told Politico that “was not invited,” to the convention “and she’s fine with that. Trump deserves the convention he wants. She’s made it clear she’s voting for him and wishes him the best.”
DeSantis’s plans to help Trump fundraise have been in the works for a while now. The Associated Press’s Iowa reporter scooped back in May that DeSantis planned to tap into his donor network in Florida and Texas to help elect his party’s presumptive nominee. That effort has begun taking shape, with NBC reporting on Tuesday that DeSantis helped organize a fundraising event this month in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and has another event planned in Texas to benefit Right for America in September.
“President Trump’s convention in Milwaukee will showcase that Republicans from all walks of life, everyday Americans to elected officials, are united as a party,” Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes told NR when asked about the fundraiser. “Together, with President Trump as the party’s leader, we are on a road to victory this November.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story included a quote from the PAC official saying, “Donald Trump Jr and Kimberly Guilfoyle will also be attending.” A spokesman for Donald Trump Jr. tells NR that he currently has no plans to attend.