How the Feud With Disney Helped Sink DeSantis’ Presidential Hopes

On Sunday, just two days before the New Hampshire primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he would suspend his presidential campaign and endorse former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. It was a dramatic turn for Governor DeSantis, who just 14 months ago secured a resounding re-election and appeared to be the prohibitive nominee.

BREAKING: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis drops out, endorses Donald Trump for president and blasts Nikki Haley.

Wow.

"I am today suspending my campaign. I'm proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises and I will not stop."

"Now, it's clear to me that a majority of Republican… pic.twitter.com/TgF08Jn8no

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 21, 2024

Related: Disney Fued Cost DeSantis His Billionaires, Now His Campaign Is Struggling For Cash

But a lot can change in 14 months, and now the Florida governor will return to his home state and try to decide his next move. There will be many who will look back and try to piece together exactly what went wrong with the governor’s campaign, but NBC News has a theory that among the many things that went wrong, one of the main problems DeSantis’ campaign encountered was the loss of billionaire donors over his feud with the Walt Disney Company.

Last September, billionaire donors Ken Griffin and Nelson Peltz announced separately that they would not donate to Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign. Peltz, who has his own issues with Disney, gave $5 million to Governor DeSantis’ 2022 re-election campaign. But it was the loss of Griffin that hurt the most.

Griffin, the CEO of Citadel, donated more than $10 million to DeSantis’ previous campaigns. While Peltz said he was sitting out this election cycle, Griffin was critical of DeSantis’ ongoing feud with the Walt Disney Company.

Related: The Billionaire Has Left the Building. DeSantis Loses Major Donor Over Disney Feud

Griffin told CNBC at the time:

The ongoing battle with Disney, I think is pointless. It doesn’t reflect well on the ethos of Florida. 

As the campaign moved along and began struggling for cash, the loss of two deep-pocketed donors began to hurt DeSantis. As early as October, two months before the Iowa Caucus, Politico reported that the DeSantis campaign was struggling for cash and had already tapped out its major donors. He began to lay off staffers and cut back on trips.

A DeSantis donor told NBC News:

Losing Ken was big. And the bigger problem was it sent a signal to others.

After a second-place finish in Iowa, nearly 30 percent behind Donald Trump, and after falling to third place in New Hampshire, DeSantis temporarily took his campaign to South Carolina. But Real Clear Politics has him polling at 11 percent there.

As former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley began to gain traction with primary voters, it became clear that Governor DeSantis would not win, and the time came to drop out of the race.

The former candidate now heads back to his home state, where he is facing a lawsuit in Federal Court over the removal of the Reedy Creek Improvement District at Walt Disney World. Gov Ron DeSantis is term-limited in Florida and will be out of office after the 2026 election.

It remains to be seen if this loss will soften Governor DeSantis’s handling of the Walt Disney Company or, after feeling the sting of defeat, will dig in and fight harder.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.