Ron DeSantis ended his campaign for the White House on Sunday, and it may very well be his well-publicized feud with Disney that fatally wounded him in the crucial run-up to Iowa.
The Florida governor first rose to nationwide prominence with his state’s push to limit discussion of sex education and gender identity in schools.
But it was his clumsy attempt to strip Disney World of its special status under state law as punishment for Disney employees speaking out against the bill that cost him vital donor support in the latter half of last year.
“DeSantis made a fatal error. His whole anti-Disney, anti-corporate stance is so foolish,” said Kathy Wylde, CEO of a trade organization that represents Wall Street executives, in comments to Politico. “He’s totally alienated the business community.”
Even as Bob Iger branded DeSantis “anti-business”—a difficult stance to take when vying for support among free-market Republicans—the Disney CEO still attempted to build a face-saving off-ramp for the governor, only to be rejected.
The two sides are now fully enmeshed in lawsuits and counter-lawsuits.
Disney, which owns properties ranging from Disney World and Marvel Studios to free-to-air TV network ABC, couldn’t be reached by Fortune for comment.
Live look from Disney HQ, as DeSantis exits presidential race pic.twitter.com/5d5afgJdmI
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) January 21, 2024
Disillusioned by his bitter feud against Disney that failed to chip support away from Donald Trump, wealthy Republican Party contributors deserted DeSantis for Nikki Haley, robbing the governor of his favored status as Trump’s chief challenger.
In a watershed moment that ensconced her as the rising star, Haley crowed at December’s fourth Republican debate that opponents like DeSantis were “just jealous” she was now in donors’ good graces.
By that point, the Florida governor already had to defend his repeated attacks against Iger and Disney on Fox News, the conservative cable news channel.
“I have consistently proven that I will do what I think is right, regardless of what donors say,” said DeSantis, citing as proof his eagerness to attack his state’s single largest employer.
No path to the nomination
DeSantis dropped out of the Republican presidential nominee race after placing a distant second in Iowa having invested all his resources on a stronger finish in the Hawkeye State.
Trump instead swept almost all 99 counties with his only loss by a literal one vote in Johnson County.
The road ahead looked inhospitable as well. DeSantis trailed Haley by a large margin in New Hampshire and had little hope of beating her in her home state of South Carolina, the next two state contests.
Once briefly the presumed frontrunner following his crushing gubernatorial victory in November 2022, DeSantis chose to wait long after Trump and Haley entered the race to finally declare his intention to run for the nation’s highest office.
When he finally confirmed in May his campaign during a live Twitter Space hosted by Elon Musk, interest was so great the site kept crashing under the weight of traffic.
But after launching to such promise, his campaign all but fizzled out by year’s end.
Alongside Haley, the only ones likely smiling now are Disney and Iger.
