Former Trump official Ken Cuccinelli launches PAC urging DeSantis to run

Ken Cuccinelli, a former senior Trump administration official and Virginia attorney general, has launched a super PAC urging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to announce a White House bid, adding to pressure from a number of Republican officials for DeSantis to run.

Cuccinelli, who served as acting deputy Homeland Security secretary under former President Trump during his final year in office, launched the campaign to draft DeSantis into the 2024 race on Thursday, saying in a video that “America’s future is Ron DeSantis.”

“Ron DeSantis doesn’t just talk, he acts, but most of all he never backs down,” Cuccinelli says in the video. “Gov. DeSantis, today I’m asking you to run for president. You’ve had our back, now we will have yours.”

The Never Back Down PAC filed with the Federal Elections Commission in late February, according to records. 

During his time in the Trump administration, Cuccinelli advanced some of Trump’s most hardline immigration policies. Cuccinelli was also a key figure in the Trump administration amid efforts by the then-president to push back on the results of the 2020 election.

But despite any public splits with the former president, Cuccinelli is coming out strongly in support of DeSantis, who is widely expected to announce a presidential bid. Trump launched his campaign right after the 2022 midterm elections and has consistently attacked DeSantis ahead of his possible entry into the race.

“I have been speaking to many grassroots conservative activists around the country who are very enthusiastic for Governor DeSantis to run for President in 2024,” Cuccinelli said in a statement. “The energy is there, grassroots conservatives see the Governor as a leader and a fighter with a winning conservative track record who will lead the Republican Party to victory in 2024.”

A growing chorus of GOP voices have called for the Florida governor to run for president, seeing him as a chief rival to Trump in a primary.