Ron DeSantis' team is urging Florida lobbyists not to back Rep. Byron Donalds for governor

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political operation is making calls to state lobbyists, urging them not to support Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., whose 2026 bid for governor has already socked away more than $3 million — much of which has come from President Donald Trump’s donors. 

The calls, according to seven people familiar with the effort who requested anonymity to speak freely, are attempts to curb any potential contributions from mostly Tallahassee-based lobbyists to Donalds’ campaign.

The southwest Florida congressman announced his Trump-backed bid for governor last month, but there remains the prospect that DeSantis’ wife, Casey, also jumps in the race, which would set up a heavyweight GOP primary and continue the long-running political proxy war between Trump and DeSantis.

“They are becoming a lot more aggressive as this thing progresses,” a veteran Republican lobbyist who received one of the calls said. “There are no threats or anything direct like that, but come on. When you get a call from the governor, or anyone around them, in this sort of context, it’s a message-sender.”

The calls come as Florida is three weeks into its state legislative session, a time when the same lobbyists DeSantis is urging to not support Donalds need the governor to sign bills into law for their clients. 

“There is a tension among many as they try to toe the line — signaling they are with Donalds, as many will, without incurring DeSantis’ wrath,” another longtime Republican Florida lobbyist said. 

“A term we keep hearing is ‘keep your powder dry,” the person said of how the request to not donate to Donalds is being framed.

Both DeSantis and Taryn Fenske, one of his top political staffers, have made some of the calls, according to one of the sources familiar. Fenske did not return a request seeking comment.

Casey DeSantis has not yet said if she plans to formally run for governor in 2026, but her husband has increasingly hyped her as a key part of his administration’s success, and she has done nothing to publicly swat down the idea of a campaign when asked about it by reporters.

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” she said last month, borrowing a cryptic turn of phrase from baseball legend Yogi Berra.

NBC News reported last month that Casey was seriously considering a run to replace her husband. A spokeswoman for DeSantis’ political operation did not return a request seeking comment.

DeSantis in the past has relied on a pressure campaign of Tallahassee lobbyists to help fund his political ambitions. During the 2024 presidential contest, his former chief of staff James Uthmeier _ who is now the state’s attorney general — organized government staffers to solicit contributions for DeSantis’ campaign from lobbyists, a highly unusual arrangement. 

This time, there are no taxpayer-funded staff involved in the efforts.

Though supporters of both sides of the potential GOP primary have aggressively attacked the other candidate on social media, outside of some early tension, neither side has really addressed the other. When asked, Donalds has praised the job DeSantis has done as governor.

Donalds has quickly amassed a $3.1 million state-level war chest, bolstered by $1.2 million in transfers from his federal congressional account and some notable donors from Trump’s fundraising network, according to public records. Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein has contributed $1 million; Clive Fields, a Texas-based health care executive who was a DeSantis donor in the 2024 presidential primary before supporting Trump, donated $500,000; and Deborah Magowan, the widow of former San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan, kicked in $150,000.

In addition, Donalds continues to have a separate federal super PAC called Sunshine State Future Fund, which has been relatively dormant, according to campaign finance records, but it has not had to disclose any contributions yet this year.

Florida election law generally allows federal super PACs to transfer money to benefit state candidate-aligned political committees, meaning it can offer a more covert way for donors to give to Donalds without the contribution immediately becoming public. The next quarterly super PAC filing deadline is not until April 15.

Meanwhile, a state-level political committee associated with DeSantis’ political operation has $2.1 million cash on hand, according to state campaign finance records.

Donalds and DeSantis were once close political allies, but they had a falling-out when Donalds endorsed Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. 

DeSantis has so far publicly framed his wife’s potential bid to replace him as a way to maintain and build on their family legacy in the state’s governor mansion.

“She’s somebody that has, I think, the intestinal fortitude and the dedication to conservative principles,” DeSantis told reporters last month of his wife. “Anything we have accomplished, she’d be able to take to the next level.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News: