Donation money boosts DeSantis

Before making his candidacy for the presidency of the United States for 2024 official, Ron DeSantis had received millions of dollars from some of the largest fortunes in the country. This, added to the more than 8 million collected in the first 24 hours Post-campaign launch, profits from the sale of his newly published book, anticipated donations at events with Republican supporters, and transfer of money left over on his run to be governor of Florida, put him in prime standing in the race. for his party’s primaries to reach the White House.

The governor’s ability had already been left out of doubt during the last campaign he conducted to become the leader of the state of Florida, last November, by breaking collection records. More of 80 million dollars They still remain in the accounts of the “Friends of Ron DeSantis” association, coming from both the funds collected previously for his current position and what has been received in recent months.

Billionaires like investor Jeffrey Yass, fund manager Ken Griffin, and hotel magnate Bigelow; conservative political groups such as the Republican Governors Association or the Club for Growth, and business giants such as Florida Power and Light and Publix, Associated Industries of Florida are some of DeSantis’s main donors.

The Governor has also received tens of millions through small but numerous donations, achieved by the thousands of people who, either voluntarily or contracted, work for his candidacy. Also in the home visitswhere the electoral machinery is making a notable effort in promoting the candidate with 2,600 pollsters in 18 states.

The amounts of money DeSantis already has at his disposal make him Donald Trump’s biggest rival in the Republican Party primaries. There it will be decided which of the two candidates will represent the conservatives in the race for the presidency. And it is that in a country where the economic support of the electoral campaign is decisive for a candidacy with guarantees, the battle between two well-endowed applicants at a financial level can be fierce.

In fact, at the moment both have a similar economic muscle (more than 80 million dollars according to what was made public in the latest figures published in January, according to CNN and well above the other Republican candidates. However, DeSantis will first have to get the money he has in the state political committee, received during his candidacy for governor, transferredr, to a federal committee to tackle the campaign for the presidency without violating the required financing laws.

This operation raises doubts if it violates the legislation of the Federal Electoral Commission (FED) ), which establishes that funds received through committees under state laws cannot be transferred to collection committees governed by federal regulations.

However, a 2014 decision stipulated that if the money received comes from a political action committee registered as “not connected”, as is the case, it can receive donations to be used later, although it does not clearly say that they can be transferred to the federal collection committee.

The governor is moving in this limbo, whose campaign managers continue to request donations online that are redirected from one site to another so that the contributions benefit “Ron DeSantis for president,” as the website explicitly notes.

The candidate has also been accused of lack of transparency during the private plane tours, while preparing the candidacy for the White House. Bankrolled by millionaire friends (mainly from Florida and with possible financial interests there), DeSantis has been pleading for support he might receive across the country before settling on the decision to run for president.

His longstanding status as a “shadow” candidate has allowed him to circumvent federal requirements to disclose both the amount and source of donations, something that could be used against him by political opponents and voters.