More Than Half of DeSantis’ Fundraising Haul Was Transferred From His Own Re-Election PAC

AP Photo/Andy Barron

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is touting a big fundraising haul “from all 50 states” in his first six weeks as a presidential candidate, but a big chunk of that money came from a pre-existing campaign stash.

DeSantis’ super PAC Never Back Down celebrated $130 million to go with another $20 million raised for his official presidential campaign. It’s an impressive amount, especially considering former President Donald Trump — DeSantis’ main rival — brought in $35 million after he was indicted on 37 federal charges. However, NBC News pointed out that a very large portion of this super PAC money came from DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaign:

[T]he super PAC backing DeSantis, called Never Back Down, raised $130 million in the second quarter of this year, the group confirmed to NBC News. Most of that money — more than $80 million — was transferred over from a fund that supported DeSantis’ 2022 re-election campaign for governor in Florida.

Matt Dixon, a senior political reporter for NBC News, did the math:

$82.5m of this came as part of a transfer from @GovRonDeSantis state-level political committee. Not new money. Was key fundraising arm for his re-election as governor and transferred the money last month. …

DeSantis announced about $150m. $67m-ish is new money.

So when it comes to money raised as a 2024 presidential candidate, more than half of it was raised to re-elect him as governor in 2022.

It’s still more than Trump’s $35 million second quarter haul, which includes his Save America PAC donations, and he brought in $18.8 million in the first quarter before the indictment, a total of $53.8 million raised. But keep in mind that part of this is going toward his own legal fees.