Florida Governor and promising 2024 Ron DeSantis greet supporters during a campaign stop at the Derry-Salem Elks Lodge in Salem, New Hampshire, on June 1, 2023.
Joseph Prezioso | AFP | beautiful pictures
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign said on Thursday it had raised $20 million in the six weeks since Republicans made their bid for the White House.
Separately, a major DeSantis-backed super PAC, Never Back Down, has amassed $130 million since the team launched in March, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC. Much of that funding comes from a controversial transferred $82.5 million from a state political committee once controlled by DeSantis, according to the group’s financial statements file.
The DeSantis campaign in a press release explicitly compared its $20 million to the $18.3 million raised by former president Donald TrumpRepublican front-runner, for the first two quarters as a 2024 candidate.
The Trump campaign called that comparison false. Combined, Trump’s joint fundraising committee and his campaign put into more than 35 million USD for a three-month period from April to June, sources told CNBC on Wednesday.
That number eclipsed DeSantis’ first financial performance. But only DeSantis official jumped into the race on May 24, about six weeks ago. Without the joint fundraising committee, Trump’s campaign increased by about 14.5 million USD in the first quarter of 2023 and $3.8 million for the final month and a half of 2022 for a total of $18.3 million.
“The campaign amount is the largest number of first-quarter filings from any non-incumbent Republican candidate in more than a decade,” the DeSantis campaign boasted in the press release.
His campaign manager, Generra Peck, said in that statement, “Joe Biden’s leftist policies are destroying the country and Republicans are excited to invest in a winner. ready to lead America’s revival.”
When asked for comment, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung directed CNBC about his tweet disputing the DeSantis campaign fundraising math.
Cheung wrote: “The DeSanctimonious fundraising comparison is as fake as his high heels. “President Trump raised $28.3 million in the first two quarters as an announced candidate and $35 million in the most recent quarter.”
He mentioned combine total of the Trump campaign and his joint fundraising committee.
Cheung also predicts the DeSantis campaign will show “extremely high average donations,” suggesting that the governor’s team has exhausted its options with wealthy donors, “having no appeal to the base.” headquarters of the Republican Party” and “politically dead.”
Officials told CNBC on Wednesday that the average donation to the Trump campaign is $34.
Despite DeSantis’ bountiful funding and his status as the top presidential candidate, he still lags far behind Trump at the nation’s early stages. poll of the GOP main school.
Trump had a double-digit lead over his opponents throughout the primaries, even after being indicted in two separate criminal cases while on the campaign trail.
Trump has net endorsement from Republican lawmakers after he was indicted in Manhattan on charges of falsifying business records and after he was charged with federal charges related to his alleged mishandling of business records. secret.
Trump’s campaign also reportedly raised millions of dollars rising water according to both indictments.
