Video Shows 'Stoned' Ron DeSantis Canvasser Complaining About Homeowners

A video has emerged online showing a paid-for canvasser for Ron DeSantis' 2024 presidential campaign making lewd marks about a potential voter in South Carolina while being "stoned" on the job.

The clip shows an unnamed man wearing a "DeSantis" T-shirt speaking on the phone telling a friend how one person told him to "get off my f******" lawn," while the canvasser suggested the homeowner should "eat my b****, honestly."

After laughing for a brief moment, the DeSantis worker adds: "And I'm a little stoned, so I don't even care."

The footage was recorded on a Ring doorbell video on July 7 and shared with The Washington Post before later emerging on social media. The man in the clip was fired by the pro-DeSantis Super PAC Never Back Down, with The Post suggesting the incident highlights an issue of people responding to work for around $20 to $22 an hour as a canvasser to drum up support for DeSantis without truly caring about the Republican's campaign, rather than volunteers with a vested interest in the cause.

The incident is another example of the issues facing the Florida governor's 2024 campaign, who is still way behind Donald Trump in the GOP primary polls. Steve Cortes, the national spokesperson for the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC, previously admitted in a live Twitter Space on July 2 that the Florida governor is facing an "uphill battle" to defeat Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.

DeSantis' office has been contacted for comment via email.

"They're just hiring people who don't even support the candidate. They don't believe in the candidate," Barbara Comstock, a former Virginia Republican congresswoman who also hired field workers to campaign for elections, told the Post.

"Particularly when you're in a competitive primary, you want someone who is local and knows the state and knows the politics of the state, knows the people, knows who is who. You want people who can speak credibly about a candidate."

Others complained that some Never Back Down door knockers in other states were not even from the area, with one voter in New Hampshire saying a DeSantis canvasser was "just standing there" on his porch, rather than knocking on the door.

Kristin Davison, the chief operating officer of Never Back Down, said that the group fields around 350 to 400 canvassers across the country, all of whom have been trained and are audited.

"By the end of the month our canvassers will have knocked on more than one million doors," Davison said in a statement. "Every day these canvassers have thousands of conversations, identifying supporters who we'll later mobilize, as well as identifying undecided voters who get specific follow up based on the conversation at the door."

Discussing the "stoned" person captured on the door cam footage, Kate Roberts, the national field director of Never Back Down, said: "After learning of the incident, we investigated and terminated the individual.

"Our field program is having thousands and thousands of incredible conversations around the country every day. This individual's behavior is counter to the standards taught in our training and is not tolerated."