Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has agreed to a lucrative book deal with HarperCollins, according to two sources who spoke with Politico.
DeSantis, a Republican, is said to be looking at a possible presidential bid in 2024. He had published his first book, "Dreams From Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama" in 2011.
Politico, quoting a publishing insider, said DeSantis previously had a deal with Simon and Schuster for nearly $2 million, but backed out of the handshake agreement after realizing the publisher was owned by Paramount, the parent company of CBS News' "60 Minutes."
In 2021, a report by the show claimed that DeSantis’ political action committee had an unethical connection with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in his state. According to the report, the grocery store chain Publix allegedly managed to get a deal to distribute doses of the vaccine in Palm Beach County because the company donated $100,000 to the governor’s reelection campaign.
DeSantis maintained that the report selectively edited a response he had given to a question about the deal, in which he says that Florida’s emergency management division made the decisions on how and where to distribute vaccines.
"Florida partnered with Publix because they were ready to administer the vaccine in their pharmacies in a matter of days, whereas other pharmacies were not ready,” the governor’s office said in a statement at the time.
Meanwhile, Politico reported a source in the conservative publishing industry, said he was "really surprised that [DeSantis’] team has not talked to all the major publishers, especially conservative ones. I would have aggressively made a play for that."
Representatives for DeSantis and HarperCollins would not comment, Politico said. And a spokesperson for Simon and Schuster didn’t respond to a Politico request for comment.