Investor Keith Rabois and his same-sex spouse Jacob Helberg – both strong backers of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – appear to have defected to the camp of former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and will be hosting an “intimate private reception” to raise money for her later this month.
“I want to say very clearly that my husband and I are significant supporters of [DeSasntis] and all his policies,” Rabois said as recently as three months ago, adding he and Helberg “think what he’s doing in Florida is the recipe that should be copied in every state – period, without exception.”
With the DeSantis campaign failing to gain traction against Donald Trump, however, this no longer appears to be the case, with the pair’s $10,000-per-head fundraiser for Haley due to take place under the Florida Governor’s nose in Miami.
Rabois and Helberg are “very much on board” with Haley and “really like her,” according to ABC News. At the time of publication, Rabois’s most recent X post was a repost of Nikki Haley’s take on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Haley and DeSantis recently clashed on the subject, making Rabois’s repost particularly pertinent.
They are not the first members of the donor class to have abandoned DeSantis. Ken Griffin, a billionaire money manager who had previously indicated he would help to bankroll DeSantis’s run at the presidency, announced he was “on the sidelines” following the first GOP primary debate, where the Floridian failed to distinguish himself despite Trump’s absence.
“It’s not clear to me what voter base [DeSantis] is intending to appeal to,” Griffin said at the time.
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