DeSantis scores local victory
Prominent Bay State conservative in his corner
An influential Massachusetts Republican businessman is bucking former President Donald Trump and throwing his weight behind Ron DeSantis — a muchneeded boost for the Florida governor’s sputtering campaign.
The Herald has learned that Rick Green, the online auto parts magnate and founder of Mass Fiscal Alliance, is endorsing DeSantis, making him the first prominent conservative figure to break with the Trump wing of the party and back the Florida governor.
“The country’s ready for the next generation and I think Gov. DeSantis is it,” Green, of Lowell, said in an interview with the Herald. “I think Gov. DeSantis’s accomplishments in Florida provide a vision for the next generation.”
Green, who could provide important financial backing for DeSantis in Massachusetts, said he has no problem with Trump but believes the Florida governor is better positioned to take the nomination and defeat Joe Biden in 2024.
DeSantis has struggled to win endorsements even in his home state of Florida and trails in the polls to Trump in key states like New Hampshire.
“I’m not against President Trump. President Trump deserves a lot of credit. I just believe Gov. DeSantis is the future of America,” Green said.
Green, chief executive of the highly successful 1A Auto Parts, has stayed active in the Massachusetts Republican Party for the last decade, ran unsuccessfully for Congress and could run again. But right now he plans to put his muscle behind DeSantis.
“Clearly I have a network.
I’ll definitely be reaching out to my network urging them to support the governor,” he said, adding he’ll help with fundraising and connecting other prominent Republicans to DeSantis.
The Florida governor has not formally kicked off his campaign but he has in effect been campaigning for months unofficially, recently traveling to New Hampshire, which will be a key battleground in the GOP race.
“We’re very, very early in this horse race,” Green said, adding he’s not concerned with polls right now. “If he gets in formally and people really start to scrutinize his record I think he’ll do very well.”
DeSantis is best known for challenging “woke” school policies in Florida and flying hundreds of migrants out of Texas and Florida to places like Martha’s Vineyard.
“I like the fact that he’s very solid. There’s not a lot of fanfare. He just gets stuff done,” said Green.
The Lowell businessman, who employs more than 500 people, also said he strongly supports DeSantis’s COVID policies in Florida, where he opened schools and businesses while many other states were shutting them down.
“He wasn’t afraid to take on hot-button issues, that’s the first thing that drew me to him,” Green said.
By siding with DeSantis, Green is now at odds with prominent Massachusetts conservatives and Trump supporters like former GOP chairman Jim Lyons. That’s a dynamic to watch in the coming months.
“President Trump has done the country a great service. He’s exposed a lot of our institutions like the government and the media,” Green said, but added that DeSantis is now the man to rebuild the country.
“The guy you call to knock it down is different than the guy you call to rebuild it,” he said.