DeSantis rakes in $15M in third quarter fundraising, portion of staff to move to Iowa

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) raised $15 million in the third quarter of fundraising for this year and is relocating a third of his staff to the early caucus state of Iowa, his campaign confirmed Wednesday.

The campaign noted in its announcement that the $15 million that DeSantis hauled in between July and September came from his campaign committee, leadership PAC and joint fundraising committee. His campaign confirmed to The Hill that the campaign itself brought in $13.5 million, $5 million of which can only be used during the primary.

The details of DeSantis’s third quarter fundraising figures and his campaign’s decision to move a third of its staff to Iowa was first reported by The New York Times. 

“Anyone that knows Ron DeSantis knows that he is a fighter, a winner, and a leader,” DeSantis campaign manager James Uthmeier said in a statement. “This significant fundraising haul not only provides us with the resources we need in the fight for Iowa and beyond, but it also shuts down the doubters who counted out Ron DeSantis for far too long.”

The development comes as members of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s campaign and DeSantis’s campaign are slated to meet with the major donor network American Opportunity Alliance on Oct. 13 to make their pitch to the group over why donors should support their bid against Trump. 

DeSantis places second in RealClearPolitics’s polling average of national polls in addition to its polling average of Iowa polls, though Haley places ahead of DeSantis in second place in RealClearPolitics’s New Hampshire and South Carolina polling averages. 

Iowa is increasingly seen as a critical battleground for the GOP nominees, as its one of the few opportunities that a non-Trump candidate may be able to blunt the momentum of former President Trump in the 2024 GOP primary. Trump himself has stepped up campaign events in the early caucus state.

Yet, no candidate has been able to surpass Trump in local or national polling — raising questions of whether Republicans will be able to successfully coalesce around another candidate to stop Trump’s momentum.