The presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that he raised $20 million in the first six weeks of his candidacy.
Meanwhile, Never Back Down, the main super PAC backing DeSantis’ White House bid, said it has raised $130 million since its launch in early March, adding a lot of financial power to DeSantis’ presidential ambitions. Both fundraising totals were first reported Thursday by Fox News.
The combined fundraising, which totals $150 million, illustrates how DeSantis and his allies have maintained a blistering pace of fundraising in the early weeks of his campaign, even as his primary opponent Republicans, former President Donald Trump, continues to dominate in public. election.
DeSantis campaign manager Generra Peck touted the fundraiser, the first reported by DeSantis since announcing his candidacy in May, as a sign of Republican enthusiasm “to invest in a winner who is willing to lead the renaissance of the United States.”
“We are grateful for the investment that so many Americans have made to take this country back,” Peck said in a statement. “The fight to save him will be long and difficult, but we have built an operation to share the governor’s message and mobilize the millions of people who support him. We are ready to win.”
Nearly half of DeSantis’ campaign fundraising (about $8.2 million) poured during the first 24 hours after announcing his candidacy. And a large portion of Never Back Down’s total was transferred to the group from DeSantis’ state political committee.
This transfer is subject to a federal campaign finance complaint presented by the Legal Center of the Campaign in May. The complaint alleges that DeSantis and his state political committee violated laws that prohibit the use of so-called “soft money” (funds that are not subject to federal contribution limits and reporting requirements) in federal elections.
Still, DeSantis’ campaign fundraising numbers make him one of the most prolific fundraisers in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. The fundraising also gives him some bragging rights over Trump, who $3.8 million in his first term as a candidate and $14.5 million in his second term.
The amount announced by DeSantis covers the second quarter of the year, which runs from April 1 to June 30. All declared presidential candidates must submit their fundraising reports for the three-month stretch to the Federal Election Commission on July 15. Super PACs have until July 31 to submit their reports.
So far, Trump is the only other candidate to offer information on his campaign’s second-quarter finances. Trump’s team confirmed Wednesday that its joint fundraising operation, which splits funds between the Trump campaign and its leadership political action committee Save America, grossed $35 million between April 1 and June 30.
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The campaign did not say how much of that $35 million went to the campaign and how much went to Save America, which has covered non-campaign expenses in the past, including Trump’s legal bills.
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