The campaign for the GOP presidential nomination for 2024 from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis raised a little over $20 million just at the governor’s principal campaign committee in the second quarter of this year, which ended June 30 — but his campaign spent the better part of half of that total, doling out at least nearly $8 million for expenses.
And as summarized by CNN, only a small minority of recent campaign donations for DeSantis were in amounts of $200 or less, which while not an exact science, suggests that levels of support for Ron from perceptibly everyday people are lower. Logistically, contributors who are giving more will also reach their legal limits faster, meaning the DeSantis campaign or any team in such a situation would be stuck with fewer prospective donors to which to turn. Around DeSantis, some have been suspicious of his basic viability, and perhaps in reference to such concerns, Fox host Maria Bartiromo — a Trump ally — asked Ron during a recent interview whether he’d even be on the debate stage for the first such face-off among GOP primary candidates. (He said yes.)
Recently, the DeSantis campaign has also seen the exits of some staff members, although a spokesperson for the governor’s team predictably cast the developments as strategic. “Defeating Joe Biden and the $72 million behind him will require a nimble and candidate driven campaign, and we are building a movement to go the distance,” Andrew Romeo said. DeSantis himself tried to defend his campaign’s standing by claiming to have raised more than Biden in the second quarter… but the incumbent president actually substantially outraised DeSantis as exemplified by that $72 million number to which Romeo admitted.
The Biden campaign’s higher fundraising took place across a slew of campaign entities involved in Biden’s operation. DeSantis also remains behind Trump in polling, suggesting the general election next year is likely to see a rematch of 2020.
