Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Won’t Return Money to Donor Who Called Obama N-word

Republican Ron DeSantis' campaign did say it will no longer accept Steven Alembik's cash.

September 21, 2018 11:42 am
US Representative Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, and candidate for Florida Governor, speaks during a rally with US President Donald Trump at Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, 2018. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)        (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
US Representative Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, and candidate for Florida Governor, speaks during a rally with US President Donald Trump at Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, 2018. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images

A Florida governor will not return money to a donor who recently called President Barack Obama a “F-cking MUSLIM N-gger” on Twitter.

Donor Steven Alembik gave Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis cash via his company SMA Communications and lined up a speech for him at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

DeSantis’ campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson said that the money which Alembik donated has already been spent and won’t be returned. 

However, the campaign will no longer accept donations from Alembik or SMA and hasn’t taken any more cash from either since DeSantis secured the GOP nomination to replace Republican Governor Rick Scott.

“We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: we adamantly denounce this sort of disgusting rhetoric,” Lawson wrote in a statement.

Alembik previously told POLITICO that he wrote the Obama tweet in anger and that he’s “absolutely not” a racist.

DeSantis has not helped himself any as he previously said his African-American opponent, Democrat Andrew Gillum, could potentially “monkey this up” when talking about the economy.

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