A Las Vegas hotel mogul who ardently believes in UFOs says he's funneling millions into Ron DeSantis' super PAC: 'I will give him more money and go without food'
- Robert Bigelow has been a longtime supporter of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
- The hotel mogul told Time he gave a DeSantis-linked super PAC $20 million on March 27.
A Las Vegas hotel mogul says he's donated millions to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and that DeSantis is the right choice for the GOP in 2024.
Robert Bigelow, who founded the Budget Suites of America chain of hotels, told Time that on March 27, he gave $20 million to a DeSantis-linked super PAC called Never Back Down. A representative for the PAC confirmed Bigelow's cash contribution to Time.
"I will give him more money and go without food," Bigelow said of his donations to DeSantis.
Bigelow told Time he supports DeSantis' war on "woke culture," like Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" law, which prohibits teaching children up to the third grade about sexual orientation and gender identity. Florida is likely to expand the "Don't Say Gay" restrictions to twelfth grade come May.
"I fully agree with him on all the woke-ism," Bigelow told Time. "It really should not be up to the state to indoctrinate children."
Bigelow also said he lost faith in former President Donald Trump after the Capitol riot.
"Trump lost his north," Bigelow told Time. "He certainly lost me as a supporter, and as someone who would champion him. He showed that, in that particular hour, that he was no commander. He was absolutely no commander."
The hotelier said it would be a "travesty" if Trump became the 2024 GOP nominee. Bigelow also added that DeSantis is the "right guy" for the GOP, with the "right stuff" to be the party's "best candidate."
Bigelow is known for his interest in aliens, UFOs, and the afterlife.
In 2017, Bigelow told CBS that he believes aliens are here on Earth and "right under people's noses."
He doubled down on this stance in a 2021 interview with Mysterywire.com, a website that describes itself as being "dedicated to reports on Area 51" and UFOs.
"If you follow the literature and pay attention to a lot of other kinds of sources, they absolutely are," Bigelow told Mysterywire.com of the presence of aliens on Earth.
Bigelow has also had a longtime fascination with UFOs. In 1995, he funded the National Institute for Discovery Science to try to study paranormal phenomena, per Politico.
And in 2021, Bigelow offered close to $1 million in prizes for people who could bring him evidence of "the survival of consciousness after permanent bodily death," per The New York Times.
Bigelow is giving DeSantis a boost
Bigelow's March donation comes less than a year after he gave the single biggest contribution to the governor's campaign war chest, Bloomberg reported. On July 7, the tycoon contributed $10 million to DeSantis' re-election bid for governor, per Bloomberg.
Bigelow's support is a boost to DeSantis' 2024 ambitions. However, the governor has not yet announced a 2024 presidential bid, and he already faces a variety of obstacles.
In April, Trump trounced DeSantis in a 2024 primary poll, leading DeSantis 51% to 41% in a head-to-head match-up.
GOP megadonor Thomas Peterffy, the chairman of Interactive Brokers, told the Financial Times in April that he and "his friends" no longer plan to contribute cash to DeSantis because of his "stance on abortion and book banning."
This month, Rolling Stone also obtained screenshots of a group chat between several unnamed DeSantis donors, where they complained about and insulted the governor.
Representatives for Bigelow, DeSantis, and the Never Back Down PAC did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.