DeSantis raises $20M in second quarter

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) presidential campaign raised $20 million during the second quarter of 2023. 

The campaign said in a release that the total, brought in during the first six weeks that DeSantis has been in the race, is the largest first-quarter filing from a non-incumbent Republican candidate in more than a decade. 

“We are grateful for the investment so many Americans have made to get this country back on track. The fight to save it will be long and challenging, but we have built an operation to share the governor’s message and mobilize the millions of people who support it. We are ready to win,” campaign manager Generra Peck said in the release. 

The super PAC supporting DeSantis, Never Back Down, also told Fox News that it has raised $130 million since it launched in early March. But $82.5 million was transferred from his state political committee to Never Back Down last month.

The announcement comes as the second quarter ended last week. Campaigns do not need to report their fundraising numbers to the Federal Election Commission until July 15.

DeSantis has consistently placed in second in Republican primary polling since before he joined the race, but former President Trump has remained the front-runner for the GOP nomination. 

Trump’s campaign and political action committee confirmed to The Hill Wednesday that it brought in more than $35 million during the second quarter. 

But DeSantis’s campaign noted that the total that the governor brought in during those six weeks is greater than what Trump raised during the first six weeks of his campaign in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 combined. 

Still, DeSantis has faced controversy from some in his own party after he released an ad criticizing Trump for statements he has made in support of the LGBTQ community. The Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP LGBTQ group, slammed the ad as getting into “homophobic territory.” 

DeSantis defended the video during an appearance on OutKick’s “Tomi Lahren is Fearless,” accusing Trump of “really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream.” 

The top spokesperson for the super PAC supporting DeSantis, Steve Cortes, also said during an appearance at a Twitter Spaces event Sunday that Trump is the “runaway front-runner” in the race. He said DeSantis will face an “uphill battle” defeating Trump. 

Cortes later told The Hill that he is convinced that DeSantis will outperform expectations and has a strong path to the nomination.

Updated: 4:13 p.m. ET