Gov. DeSantis’ political committee now has $9.5 million on hand

Gov. Ron DeSantis has continued raising boatloads of cash for his political committee, new finance reports show.

The Friends of Ron DeSantis committee brought in $705,000  last month — its biggest haul since October, according to finance reports filed with the Florida Division of Elections.

The money came in across 31 contributions. TECO Energy topped the list with a $100,000 check, followed by Dentaquest PAC, Daytona Toyota and Zgroup advertising at the $50,000 level. A dozen others sent the committee $25,000 checks, including Independent Living Systems, Dosal Tobacco Corporation and red-light camera company American Traffic Solutions.

Friends of Ron DeSantis spent just $1,350 last month, all of it going to voter information and software company Aristotle International.

January marked the fourth consecutive month of six-figure hauls for the committee. It raised $727,000 in October, $521,000 in November and $502,000 in December. The committee entered February with just under $9.5 million on hand.

DeSantis has not yet opened a campaign account for reelection in 2022.

Since its founding three years ago, Friends of Ron DeSantis has collected $50.3 million from donors. Much of that money was collected for DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaign, with about $10.5 million flowing in after Election Day 2018.