In an early indication of the strength he may bring to the 2024 presidential election, particularly the GOP primary, the governor of Florida now reportedly has far more money available for a prospective White House campaign than former President Donald Trump.
Compared to what Donald Trump has in his account for his presidential campaign and a connected federal PAC, Governor Ron DeSantis has more than twice as much money.
DeSantis’ advantage shrinks when funds raised by the two candidates’ super PACs are included, but he still outspends Trump by tens of millions of dollars.
According to Florida Department of State records, DeSantis collected just under $29 million for his 2022 race for governor, which he won by a 20-point margin.
According to the most recent campaign filing, as of February 4th, the campaign had spent every dollar available.
Friends of Ron DeSantis is a political action organization where he has the majority of his financial assets.
From January 2018 to the end of March 2018, the PAC raised $225.7 million, spent $139.8 million, and left him with $85.9 million in the bank.
According to Federal Election Commission statistics, from the time he declared his candidacy in November through the end of March, Trump’s presidential campaign raised $18.3 million and spent little over $4.3 million, leaving him with $13.9 million in cash.
At the end of 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, Trump’s political action organization Save America had $18.3 million in cash.
That gives him a total of around $32.2 million, including his campaign account, which is less than half of the cash DeSantis most recently disclosed he had on hand.
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