TALLAHASSEE — A group of super-wealthy people helped foot the bill as Gov. Ron DeSantis barnstormed Florida and the rest of the country campaigning for his reelection and stumping for political allies running up to the midterm elections this month.

They include hoteliers, developers, restaurateurs, investment brokers, trucking magnates, health executives, gas station and convenience store owners, and oil distributors, some of whom benefited from appointments to state boards and from laws enacted by DeSantis. Those include the state’s gas tax holiday, raising the commission for retailers on lottery ticket sales, earmarking millions of advertising dollars for Visit Florida, and lifting the state’s lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not only did the extremely rich donate tens of millions of dollars in cash to the governor, they made more than $500,000 worth of in-kind contributions to cover his transportation costs, an Orlando Sentinel review of state records shows.

That doesn’t include the nearly $200,000 in transportation costs covered by the Republican Party of Florida. Nor does it include thousands of dollars in direct payments for hotels, commercial airplane tickets and other travel expenses.

“It’s the old campaign finance thing to curry favor with the governor and gain private access to him,” said Ben Wilcox, research director for the nonpartisan organization Integrity Florida.

“Something we’ve seen is corporate owners providing free flights and then…