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Axiom Strategies and Vanguard Field Strategies, firms helmed by prominent Republican strategist Jeff Roe, have been paid nearly $29 million by an organization pushing a 2024 ballot initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana. A DeSantis-aligned attorney general is fighting their work, and the governor himself has said he broadly opposes legalization.
But as Axiom and Vanguard try to circumvent DeSantis’ opposition to weed in Florida, they’re also trying to get him elected president — in part on an anti-weed platform.
Axiom and Vanguard have been paid over $25 million by the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down through the end of June, making them the super PACs’ highest-paid vendors. Never Back Down oversees much of the DeSantis campaign, standing up get-out-the-vote programs, hosting events he appears at and even providing transportation for the governor.
That the firms have taken on conflicting clients illustrates the peril that comes with how DeSantis has designed his political apparatus, something that has increasingly become a topic of discussion within the governor’s orbit. Because the campaign and super PAC are legally prohibited from coordinating, DeSantis has had to bet his political future on an outfit whose approach and interests don’t always align with his own.
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