JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The first campaign finance report from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign shows that roughly 40 percent of his campaign contributions are coming from Floridians.
DeSantis, who formally launched his bid for the White House in late May, has reported nearly $20 million in contributions to his campaign committee, Ron DeSantis for President. Nearly $17 million of that is in the form of individual contributions that were itemized in reports to the Federal Election Commission. The FEC does not require donations under $200 to be itemized, and those unitemized contributions added up to more than $2.8 million.
According to the FEC, nearly 2,800 Floridians contributed more than $6.8 million in all to the DeSantis campaign, through June 30th. Under federal rules, contributions to a candidate’s campaign are limited to $3,300 for the primary election, and $3,300 to go toward the general election. Candidates can collect for both the primary and the general while they are still seeking their party’s nomination.
California was the state with the second-highest contribution total, at $2.1 million – less than one-third of Florida’s total. California was closely followed by Texas at $2 million, New York at $1.1 million, and Virginia with more than $732,000.
(Continue scrolling past the map to see the Florida cities with the most contributions)
Within Florida, the capital city of Tallahassee was well-represented, with contributions totaling more than $493,000, according to FEC data, coming from 196 contributors. “Consultant” was the occupation most commonly listed in the campaign finance reports for Tallahassee campaign donors.
While the city of Tallahassee had a larger contribution total than any other city in the state, other large metro areas that include several cities also had significant totals. In the Tampa Bay area, nearly $430,000 came from donors in Tampa, and $150,000 from donors in St. Petersburg, in addition to other cities in the area. Miami donors gave the DeSantis campaign nearly $302,000, with the next largest total in Miami-Dade County coming from Miami Beach, with more than $196,000 in contributions. Donations from Orlando contributors totaled more than $293,000.
Contributors in Jacksonville, where the governor and first lady Casey DeSantis lived prior to him entering Congress, gave approximately $184,000. Nineteen of the 79 contributors with a Jacksonville address gave the maximum amount of $6,600.
In addition to his campaign committee, DeSantis’ candidacy will be supported by a “super PAC,” Never Back Down Inc. Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, as long as they don’t coordinate with the candidate. While Never Back Down, Inc has not yet filed any reports of money raised – super PACs operate on a different reporting schedule from the campaign committees – the committee has said it has raised $130 million since it launched in March. Records show that $82.5 million of that money came from a Florida-registered political action committee, Empower Parents PAC, in a contribution on May 31. State election records show that the committee that supported DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaigns, Friends of Ron DeSantis, changed its name in May to Empower Parents PAC, and the committee’s officers changed. Empower Parents PAC disbanded at the end of May.