On Thursday afternoon, the first quarter fundraising numbers for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign were released. In the first six weeks of his campaign since officially launching on May 24, DeSantis raised $20 million, which the campaign touted in a press release first shared with Fox News as the "largest first-quarter filing from any non-incumbent Republican candidate in more than a decade." DeSantis had also brought in an impressive amount of money at the start of his launch, raising $8.2 million within the first 24 hours.
As the Fox News report also mentioned, the Never Back Down Super PAC announced they had raised $130 million since launching in March.
🔥 BREAKING: @RonDeSantis posted the best first fundraising quarter of any non-incumbent Republican candidate in more than a decade, raising $20 million in just six weeks.
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) July 6, 2023
This surpasses the amount former president Trump’s campaign raised during his first two fundraising…
In contrast, former and potentially future President Donald Trump had reported on Wednesday that his campaign along with the Save America PAC had "together brought in over $35 million between April and June in the second quarter of political fundraising," according to Fox News.
As the report further adds:
And [the DeSantis campaign] added that it "bests the $18.3 million former president and quasi-incumbent Donald Trump's campaign raised during his first two fundraising quarters as a candidate ($3.8 in Q4 2022 and $14.5 in Q1 2023)."
The Trump campaign and its allied fundraising committees brought in $9.5 million from the former president's mid-November launch through the end of last year and nearly $19 million during the January-March first quarter of fundraising.
The Fox News report mentioned that "DeSantis and Trump are the first of the Republican presidential contenders to announce their second quarter fundraising," with candidates having until July 15 to file reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
During Thursday's episode of "CNN News Central," Kristen Holmes referred to the numbers as "impressive" and indicated the money coming in from the PAC was "a huge number" as well.
CNN on Ron DeSantis' fundraising totals from supporters across America: "these are really impressive numbers" https://t.co/9UqV9GEu7T pic.twitter.com/XHb7SsKrnv
— Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) July 6, 2023
The fundraising numbers came in on the same day that Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis launched Mamas for DeSantis in Johnston, Iowa. The state is so crucial to many presidential candidates, as primary voting begins with the Iowa caucuses in January.
Such an initiative had been crucial to DeSantis' reelection as governor last November, when he won against Democrat Charlie Crist by 19.4 points.
Casey DeSantis has joined her husband on the campaign trail as a vital asset. As Townhall reported late last month after receiving an exclusive readout, this included a meeting where Moms for Liberty members attended in Illinois.
Thank you @CaseyDeSantis for meeting with IL parents. Excellent discussion.
— Shannon Adcock (@Shannon_A_IL) June 29, 2023
While we were literally forced to sue Gov Pritzker for violating our children’s rights, we’re so grateful @GovRonDeSantis stands for families & freedom.
America should be uplifted, not embattled. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/LsMEiWj2tq
DeSantis is currently sitting in a distant second place against Trump, who is up by +32.1, according to RealClearPolitics (RCP), with 53 percent to DeSantis' 20.9 percent.
In a hypothetical matchup between DeSantis and President Joe Biden, the latter leads by +1.0, while Trump leads Biden by +0.6.
Where DeSantis does fare better is that Americans view him less unfavorably than they do Trump. According to the latest poll from The Economist/YouGov, DeSantis has a combined 35 percent favorable rating and a combined 47 percent unfavorable rating. While Trump has a combined 39 percent favorable rating, his combined unfavorable rating is at 58 percent.