Motorola Solutions is backing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) ahead of his re-election bid this November despite his increasingly extremist positions, campaign finance filings show. 

According to Follow The Money’s database of political donations, Motorola’s Political Action Committee gave $25,000 to DeSantis this election cycle. 

The company PAC gives to a number of gubernatorial candidates across the country. However, the DeSantis donation is the largest, by $5000. 

The majority of gubernatorial candidates the company supports this year are Republicans. 

The Chicago-based telecommunications giant has not donated to Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) — DeSantis’s Democratic competitor. Neither campaign responded to TYT’s requests for comment 

Motorola has spent quite a bit on Republicans in Florida in particular. In the last 13 years, Motorola has given Florida Republicans a combined $121,000. That’s more than to any other party in any other state and more than the next seven state GOP committees combined. The Florida Republican Party itself, which supports DeSantis, got $86,000.

In 2021, Motorola Solutions pressured DeSantis to veto a budget item that gave a no-bid contract to a competitor. The contract was for dispatch hardware across statewide law enforcement agencies. (The dispute ended up in court, where Motorola ultimately lost.)

DeSantis is taking constantly more extremist positions, like backing the Parental Rights in Education law, otherwise known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. That forbids schools from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity. DeSantis also signed a bill that similarly clamps down on classroom and workplace discussion of African-American history. DeSantis has also banned books — a move largely viewed as extremist.

The governor also holds positions on abortion that are devoid of a basic understanding of human biology. DeSantis’s administration is also revoking important trans-inclusive healthcare.

DeSantis still has not acknowledged that former Pres. Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. And he has stumped for candidates all over the country that are vocal Big Lie supporters, like Kari Lake, the GOP nominee for governor in Arizona. 

Recently, DeSantis campaigned for Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who wanted to contest the 2020 election results and also has close ties to Christian nationalists and anti-semites. 

Despite Mastriano rhetoric even more extremist than that of DeSantis, it is resonating with conservatives in the Keystone State. In part that helps bolster DeSantis as he positions himself as a likely contender for the 2024 GOP nomination for president. 

Motorola’s financial backing of a candidate with extremist positions is no surprise. As TYT previously reported, the company donated to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s re-election campaign and to Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the GOP nominee in the Nevada gubernatorial race.

The company’s PAC has donated to a number of congressional candidates who either support the Big Lie and/or voted against the certification of the 2020 presidential election. 

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) reported in March that Motorola resumed congressional donations less than a year after pausing because of the Jan. 6 attack. Despite the election deniers having not changed their perspective, Motorola began donating to them again. CREW found that the PAC donated more than $60,000 to 14 members that voted against election certification.

Motorola did not respond to TYT’s request for comment.

Andy Hirschfeld is a freelance reporter. You can find him on Twitter @andyreports.