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Ron DeSantis\u2019 senior political aides were gathered last year at the Florida governor\u2019s campaign headquarters, an office across the street from a Red Lobster on Tallahassee\u2019s north side, planning the announcement of his candidacy for president.<\/p>\n
Some wanted the Republican to go to a baseball stadium in Tampa, near\u00a0where he grew up and starred in Little League<\/a>, for what they hoped would be a photogenic rally with his young family. Campaign manager Generra Peck supported a different idea, according to people familiar with the matter \u2014 one she had quietly been working on for weeks with Elon Musk, the then-new owner of the platform still known at the time as Twitter. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose internal deliberations.<\/p>\n DeSantis opted for an audio-only conversation with Musk on Twitter Spaces. Initially drawing interest and curiosity, the call was a disaster. The feed crashed due to technical glitches,\u00a0creating an inauspicious opening<\/a>\u00a0for what would ultimately be DeSantis\u2019 ill-fated campaign.<\/p>\n Peck, who was\u00a0demoted three months into DeSantis\u2019 candidacy<\/a>, and Musk are now working together again, this time on a super political action committee, America PAC, dedicated to electing Donald Trump, who beat DeSantis on his way to\u00a0winning this year\u2019s Republican nomination<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s campaign is largely leaving paid canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts to outside groups such as America PAC, relying on new guidance from the Federal Election Commission that allows campaigns to coordinate with outside groups in ways that were previously not allowed. But in doing so, the campaign has outsourced a core function to a coterie of untested groups that operate independently. Indeed, DeSantis\u2019 decision to have an outside group canvass for him was\u00a0attributed as one of the reasons<\/a>\u00a0his presidential bid failed.<\/p>\n The small margins that an effective turnout program can achieve could be especially important in a tight presidential race with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee,\u00a0drawing more enthusiasm<\/a>\u00a0than when President Joe Biden was seeking reelection.<\/p>\n America PAC has a charge of identifying likely Trump supporters in key states through door-to-door canvassing and digital outreach. It is among a handful of organizations to which Trump\u2019s team has ceded most of the organizational effort, including Turning Point Action and Faith and Freedom Coalition.<\/p>\n Its work \u2014 and Musk\u2019s role \u2014 have drawn an unusual level of interest.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica PAC is utilizing the data it collects to register voters and encourage them to vote,\u201d lawyers for the group wrote in an Aug. 7 letter sent to a staffer for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, whose office was cited in an Aug. 4 CNBC story as investigating the group\u2019s efforts. \u201cAdmittedly, not all our plans or strategies are public at this time, but any investigation into our efforts will prove premature and imprudent.\u201d<\/p>\n Benson\u2019s office, which released the letter, responded two days later by saying it announced a review \u201cin response to concerns that potential Michigan voters were being misled by an America PAC website into believing they were registering to vote when they were, in fact, not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for confirming that the website is offering voter registration and that your client plans on using the gathered information to actually register voters,\u201d Benson\u2019s office added in its letter.<\/p>\n Musk has denied reports that he would fund pro-Trump efforts this year to the tune of $45 million a month. But he has been vocal both in his support of Trump and his boosting of conservative voices on the platform he renamed from Twitter to X.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key values of the PAC are supporting a meritocracy & individual freedom,\u201d Musk wrote in a July post. \u201cRepublicans are mostly, but not entirely, on the side of merit & freedom.\u201d<\/p>\nAmerica PAC works to identify likely Trump supporters<\/h2>\n