Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his fellow Republicans legislators might be angry with the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) for injecting what the governor described as a “woke” attitude and “California values” into the Sunshine State's politics, but they are not angry enough to return the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions made by the company.
What Happened: According to a Politico report, Disney and its affiliates donated more than $2.3 million in Florida this election cycle, with money going to elected officials, their political committees and committees run by one of the state’s main business groups.
Disney has given the Republican Party of Florida $255,000 in direct financial contributions since January 2021 plus nearly $142,000 worth of in-kind donations that covered lodging, food and entertainment costs of visiting Disney parks. In March 2021, DeSantis’ reelection campaign received $50,000 from Disney into its political committee — Disney also funneled $50,000 to DeSantis’ campaign in 2019.
See Also: Disney Pays $100K To Settle Bedbug Lawsuit: Report
What Else Happened: Few Republican legislators were willing to address the issue. A spokesperson for Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose political committee received a $10,000 check in February as well as $51,000 worth of lodging, travel and other expenses from Disney last September, issued a statement insisting that Patronis “doesn’t expect to agree with any donor 100% of the time.”
State Rep. Joe Harding (R-Williston), who sponsored the legislation that sparked the divide between Disney and Florida Republicans — the bill formally known as “Parental Rights in Education” and called “Don’t Say Gay” by its detractors — is one of three Florida Republicans to return campaign funds to Disney.
“I can’t be aligned with a corporation taken over by the woke Leftist mob mentality coming out of California and other blue states,” Harding said in a statement, later telling Politico, “I did it simply on principle on my end, I don’t have an opinion positive or negative on other folks. Those are decisions they made. For me, I felt it was something I needed to do. I never looked at it as creating a movement.”
Disney also has a problematic relationship with Florida’s Democratic Party, which canceled its annual fundraiser at Disney World after the party’s LGBTQ caucus and other party leaders threatened to boycott the event. Disney gave $138,881 to the Florida Democratic Party during this election cycle, with $113,881 as in-kind contributions.
In March, Disney announced it would suspend campaign donations in Florida following the angry response it generated from Florida Republicans and LGBTQ activists in its handling of the legislative controversy.
Photo of Gov. Ron DeSantis by Gage Skidmore/Flickr Creative Commons
