Former President Donald Trump announced his presidential campaign almost six months ago, and he’s climbing in the polls.
Meanwhile, the other frontrunner — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — has been waiting to announce a decision on whether to run and has lagged behind the 45th president.
But DeSantis just snagged a key advantage.
DeSantis is sitting on much, much more campaign money than Trump.
Friends of Ron DeSantis — a PAC functioning as a campaign fundraiser — boasts a war chest with $85.9 million inside, according to state filings reviewed by USA Today. By contrast, Trump is reportedly sitting on only $32.2 million between both his campaign account and the Save America PAC.
DeSantis is also raising very quickly… and he’s not even a declared candidate for anything.
Never Back Down — a super PAC aligned with DeSantis — reportedly raised $30 million in less than a month. Super PACs, unlike other PACs, can legally raise an unlimited amount of money to run advertisements, but they remain forbidden from collaborating with the campaign.
A similar Trump-aligned super PAC — Make America Great Again Inc. — reportedly ended the year 2022 with $18.3 million in the bank, on top of the $13.9 million reportedly in Trump’s campaign account. That’s more than $32 million raised.
Still, DeSantis holds the decisive advantage due to the super PAC’s money.
However, DeSantis is facing other woes. He’s sagging in the polls. Late last month, he was polling only two points ahead of longshot Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is against President Joe Biden, according to Fox News interviews with 1,004 voters over telephone.
The Florida governor polls well among a general electorate in some swing states, like Georgia. In fact, DeSantis would run ahead of incumbent President Joe Biden, according to an April poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
However, DeSantis would need the win the Republican primary in order for the Journal-Constitution poll to matter.
Perhaps he can spin the money into primary votes.
The Horn editorial team