Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ presidential campaign raised more money in its first quarter than former President Donald Trump’s current campaign raised in its first two quarters combined, according to newly released data.
The DeSantis campaign announced that it raised $20 million in its first six weeks, which it boasted was “the largest first-quarter filing from any non-incumbent Republican candidate in more than a decade.”
“It bests the $18.3 million former president and quasi-incumbent Donald Trump’s campaign raised during its first two fundraising quarters as a candidate ($3.8 in Q4 2022 and $14.5 in Q1 2023),” the campaign added.
All of the aforementioned figures only include money donated to each candidate’s individual campaigns and not their allied fundraising committees.
Trump, who had a full 12-week quarter, raised $35 million between his campaign and his leadership political action committee, Save America, this quarter. Donors are believed to have been energized by his indictments at the hands of a Manhattan grand jury at the end of March and a federal grand jury in Florida last month. The Trump-allied Make America Great Again PAC has not released its numbers yet for this quarter.
For example, in the three days after Trump was indicted in Manhattan, his campaign raised $7 million. That figure is nearly double what his campaign raised during its first quarter last year after he launched his campaign in November. Trump raised approximately the same amount in the few days after he was indicted on federal charges stemming from his alleged mishandling of classified information after leaving office.
The DeSantis-allied Never Back Down PAC, which launched toward the end of Q1 this year, told Fox News that it has brought in $130 million since its inception on March 9. A large portion of that was transferred over from DeSantis’ state political committee.
Never Back Down’s $130 million combined with the DeSantis campaign’s $20 million brings the DeSantis effort’s available war chest to $150 million.
DeSantis campaign manager Generra Peck said that the numbers the campaign has raised show that “Republicans are excited to invest in a winner ready to lead America’s revival.”
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“We are grateful for the investment so many Americans have made to get this country back on track,” she said. “The fight to save it will be long and challenging, but we have built an operation to share the governor’s message and mobilize the millions of people who support it. We are ready to win.”