Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced his 2024 candidacy. The RINOs and the unhinged Left focused more on the bumpy rollout on Twitter Spaces than what has transpired over the past 24 hours. The establishment media also highlighted the glitchy announcement, marred by roughly 20 minutes of technical glitches. They also had to have been irritated by the fact DeSantis was making his official 2024 announcement with Elon Musk.
Over 700,000 people tuned into the event. We’ve moved on from the glitches because DeSantis is everywhere, and he’s banked nearly $9 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign (via Axios):
NEWS: Ron DeSantis raised $8.2 million for his campaign in the first 24 hours
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) May 25, 2023
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) raked in $8.2 million in the 24 hours following his announcement that he's running for president in 2024, his campaign announced Thursday.
Why it matters: The vast amount establishes DeSantis as the main challenger to 2024 Republican presidential rival former President Trump.
It's more than President Biden raised in the same period in 2019 when he kicked off his campaign. And Trump brought in some $9.5 million in the six weeks following his 2024 announcement, per the New York Times, which first reported news of DeSantis' fund-raising haul.
"A super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis is planning for a $200 million budget but campaign funds are far harder to raise because they face a strict donation cap," the NYT notes.
Between the lines: Beating Republican presidential frontrunner Trump in the GOP primary would be a Herculean task.
But his allies are laying the groundwork for a campaign that matches the massive scale of his challenge, with the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down planning over 2,600 field organizers by Labor Day, Axios' Zachary Basu notes.
We knew DeSantis would be the only legitimate challenger to frontrunner Donald Trump. Whether he maintains his lead in the polls remains to be seen. Let’s revisit those in a few weeks, but DeSantis 2024 is official. He’s raking in the cash. He has a better staff than the former president, and he’s hitting the ground running. The real test will be the debates. Can Ron dish it and take it? Will he be able to outmaneuver the former president on that stage? If DeSantis has a spike in the polls, and I think he will, Trump might be forced to participate in the first couple of showdowns. Who knows, but we should all be excited about this primary and prepared. It’s going to be nasty.