DeSantis has nearly tapped out on maxed out donors

[mystery-ak]

 DeSantis has nearly tapped out on maxed out donors

The Florida governor is going to have to find new big donors — fast.



By Jessica Piper

10/18/2023 05:00 AM EDT

Ron DeSantis has a money problem: Most of the cash in his campaign’s account is off limits, and the donors who have fueled his strong fundraising so far are people he can’t ask again for more money.

A POLITICO analysis shows that roughly 75 percent of all money raised by DeSantis came from donors who can no longer give again for the primary: DeSantis raised $31.3 million through the end of September, and of that, $23.8 million came from more than 3,800 donors who have each given at least the maximum primary amount of $3,300.

No other candidate comes close to those figures. For Nikki Haley, that number is 44 percent; for Tim Scott, it’s 36 percent; for Vivek Ramaswamy, it is 23 percent, excluding his self-funding.

more
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/18/desantis-campaign-money-problem-donors-00122045

[Right_in_Virginia]

Money has been a problem for DeSantis’ campaign. Is it still?
Tampa Bay Times, Oct 16, 2023

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign and related political committees raised about $15 million in July through September, new campaign finance records show. It’s a sizable total that was generated during a period of sinking poll numbers, major campaign layoffs and increasing doubts about the viability of his candidacy.

While the total shows resilience in the Florida governor’s fundraising abilities, it also raises daunting questions as DeSantis promises a comeback ahead of Iowa’s caucuses early next year.

The $15 million DeSantis raised falls far short of the $24.5 million reported by former President Donald Trump’s campaign in documents also filed Sunday night. That figure is not comprehensive of all of Trump’s political committees; Trump’s team said it raised $45.5 million in total, as his fundraising shows upward momentum.

In contrast, the amount DeSantis raised in the latest three-month period is less than the roughly $20 million his campaign raised in the month and a half it was active the previous quarter.

DeSantis’ official campaign spent nearly all of the money it raised in the third quarter. It doled out about $2.2 million on travel, one of its largest expense categories, and $1.9 million on payroll and related taxes, for example.


More:
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/10/16/ron-desantis-campaign-finance-fundraising-spending-donald-trump-comparison/

[Right_in_Virginia]

DeSantis Super PAC Helps Pay for Private Flights, in Unusual Move
NY Times,  Oct 16, 2023

The Florida governor’s campaign, facing a cash crunch, has found a way to offload the steep costs of private air travel. Campaign finance experts say the arrangement could test the limits of the law.

[...]

Federal candidates can appear as “featured guests” of super PACs, but whether a super PAC can also pay for transportation is less clear cut. Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate with campaigns, and campaign finance experts say that Mr. DeSantis’s arrangement — in which he is campaigning for president as a guest of a super PAC — could test that rule.

“I think what DeSantis is currently doing is an abuse of this law to benefit his candidacy — paid for by his super PAC and its special-interest donors,” said Saurav Ghosh, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer and the director of federal campaign finance reform for the Campaign Legal Center.

The travel expenses for Mr. DeSantis’s campaign have previously drawn scrutiny.

In July, his campaign’s first report showed that he had spent $179,000 on chartered planes, as well as $483,000 to a limited liability company for “travel.” Never Back Down paid that same company $343,000 in June.

In August, The Washington Post reported that Never Back Down and the campaign had become joint investors in a private transportation management company that provided lower-cost airplane rental leases for Mr. DeSantis, citing people familiar with the deal. The Post reported that Mr. DeSantis had used planes from the company in July; in its October filing, the campaign lists the last payment to the company, Empyreal Jets, as $41,433 on August 10.


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/us/politics/desantis-campaign-funding-money.html