Pro-DeSantis super PAC hires another former Trump aide

A super PAC aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is adding another former Trump campaign aide to its ranks. 

Matt Wolking, who served as deputy communications director for Trump’s last presidential bid, announced on Monday that he would join the super PAC Never Back Down as its strategic communications director.

Wolking headed up former President Trump’s rapid response operation in 2020 before serving as communications director for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) successful campaign in 2021. He most recently worked at the GOP consulting firm Axiom Strategies as vice president of communications. 

Jeff Roe, the founder and CEO of Axiom Strategies, recently joined Never Back Down as an adviser. 

In a pair of tweets on Monday, Wolking said that, while former President Trump was the right person for the job eight years ago, Republicans now need “a disciplined leader who wins instead of loses, never backs down, fights smart, and puts the mission before himself.”

“On each count, Governor Ron DeSantis is the strongest choice,” Wolking tweeted, adding in a second post: “Governor DeSantis is bold, effective, and knows how to finish the job, so with him as president we will finally be able to win so much that we’ll be tired of all the winning.”

“I’m proud to support him and join @NvrBackDown24 as strategic communications director.”

Wolking is the latest former Trump aide to get on board with the effort to recruit DeSantis into the 2024 presidential race. Last week, Erin Perrine, who served as director of press communications for Trump’s 2020 campaign, joined the super PAC as communications director.

Never Back Down was formed earlier this month by Ken Cuccinelli, a former deputy Homeland Security secretary in Trump’s administration. 

DeSantis hasn’t yet announced a run for the White House, though he’s actively preparing for a campaign and is expected to jump into the race later this year after the Florida state legislature wraps up its annual session. In recent weeks, he’s traveled to early voting states like Iowa and Nevada, and he is expected to make stops in other critical states like New Hampshire, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the coming weeks.

While Trump remains the frontrunner in the nascent 2024 Republican primary, early polling shows DeSantis as the most formidable challenger to the former president. Trump and his allies have attacked DeSantis relentlessly in recent weeks in an effort to weaken him ahead of an expected presidential bid.