Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign hauled in $20 million in the first six weeks of the governor’s presidential campaign, his team announced on Thursday.
According to the announcement, the DeSantis campaign hauled in the $20 million in the first six weeks of his campaign, which he formally kicked off in late May. The DeSantis campaign is claiming that the haul is “the largest first-quarter filing from any non-incumbent Republican candidate in more than a decade.” Notably, $8.2 million of that was garnered in the first 24 hours of his presidential campaign, as DeSantis’s team originally made that announcement shortly after the governor’s launch.
“It bests the $18.3 million former president and quasi-incumbent Donald Trump’s campaign raised during its first two fundraising quarters as a candidate ($3.8 in Q4 2022 and $14.5 in Q1 2023),” the DeSantis campaign claimed in an emailed announcement.
However, Trump’s team raised $9.5 million from his November announcement through the end of the year. And in the first quarter, he raised $18.8 million via his campaign and joint fundraising committee, for a total of $28.3 million.
Trump’s campaign recently announced his second quarter figures as well, which top $35 million via his campaign and his Save America PAC.
DeSanctimonious' fundraising numbers comparison is as fake as his high heeled boots. Pres. Trump raised $28.3M in his first two quarters as an announced candidate, and $35M in this most-recent quarter.
— Steven Cheung (@TheStevenCheung) July 6, 2023
The extremely high average donation the DeSanctus camp will show indicates… https://t.co/snghmF1ybm
Meanwhile, the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down PAC has reportedly raised $130 million since March.
Breaking down Ron DeSantis's fundraising numbers:
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) July 6, 2023
Campaign:
— $20m raised in first 6 weeks
— $8.1m of that was raised in the first 24 hours, $11.9m raised after
Super PAC:
— $130m "raised" since March
— $83m of that was "raised" by a transfer
— At least $20m from Robert Bigelow
DeSantis campaign manager Generra Peck is counting DeSantis’s latest figures as a victory, asserting that “Republicans are excited to invest in a winner ready to lead America’s revival.”
The figures follow a continued stream of national- and state-level surveys continuing to show Trump as the “runaway frontrunner” in the race — a fact Steve Cortes, a former Donald Trump supporter who advises the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, admitted over the weekend.
Former President Donald Trump holds a commanding 34-point lead over his nearest competitor in the GOP primary field, per a Fox News poll. https://t.co/oBabJvm1cA
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 29, 2023
“Right now in national polling, we are way behind. I’ll be the first to admit that,” Cortes said during a Twitter Spaces discussion, admitting “an uphill battle” for DeSantis.
Trump has continued to criticize DeSantis on Truth Social, asserting that the governor is actively “hurting himself very badly for 2028.”
