Activists at 27 universities will soon begin meeting twice a month to organize their peers under the banner of Students for DeSantis. Office space supporting the Florida governor’s presidential ambitions will open in each of the early-voting states. And names have already been gathered by clipboard in Iowa to launch a door-knocking army.
But none of these efforts will be a part of the as-yet-unannounced DeSantis campaign. Rather they are being funded and organized by Never Back Down, a technically independent super PAC that unlike federal candidates can accept donations of any value from wealthy individuals and corporations.
The arrangement marks a new frontier in the rapidly shifting campaign finance landscape that governs presidential efforts, as outside groups allied with candidates behave more and more like traditional campaigns. Made possible by a pair of court decisions in 2010, super PACs have steadily evolved since, from deep-pocketed attack ad operations to sprawling organizations that undertake much of the work of a campaign, including candidate fundraising, strategic operations, polling, opposition research and communications.