Ron DeSantis posts another $10M month in May

Ron DeSantis sits on a mountain of campaign cash.

Another month, another $10 million for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ re-election efforts. The Republican incumbent continues to smoke his competitors in raising funds, with a political committee supporting his candidacy doing most of the heavy lifting.

DeSantis’ official re-election campaign in May reported another $1,350,421 in new donations, bringing total fundraising for this election cycle above $10 million. Meanwhile, Friends of Ron DeSantis collected an additional $8,853,741 in May alone.

The strong totals come after DeSantis also raised $10 million in April. Meanwhile, Democratic opponents Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried hold less cash between them and still face one another in an Aug. 23 Democratic Primary. DeSantis technically faces two Republicans in a Primary but none with significant resources or name recognition.

In total, DeSantis’ political committee sits on $105,375,354 in cash on hand, while his official campaign holds another $6,697,365.

On top of cash donations, DeSantis also saw $1.5 million worth of in-kind support from the Republican Party of Florida. The campaign also accepted 101 checks at the maximum $3,000 level, making up more than a fifth of the cash donations.

Notably, the campaign also returned 147 donations in May, worth more than $19,000 in total.

But the campaign continues to be fueled by small donations, with 18,454 donations directly to DeSantis’ campaign account in May that were worth less than $1,000.

The political committee saw a $1.25 million check come in from the Republican Governors Association. A number of major individual donors also make up a significant portion of the committee’s May haul.

Walter Buckley of North Palm Beach gave $50,000 to the campaign, the largest contribution from an individual donor. Medical investor Steven Scott dropped $25,000 on the campaign.

Barrow Realty and Driven Capital Management also each gave $25,000. The Realtors Political Action Committee dropped $10,000 into the Governor’s coffers, as did a number of other home builders and development interests.

While DeSantis doesn’t face a significant Primary challenge, his re-election campaign for the first time spent more than $1 million in a month in May.

That included buying more than $319,000 in signs from Texas vendor IVision. The campaign also spent more than $148,000 on promotional supply company Ace Specialties, based in Louisiana.

The political committee, meanwhile, spent nearly $2.6 million in May, though that included a $2 million contribution to the Republican Party of Florida on top of some $20,000 on consulting and transportation costs.

The committee spent $450,000 in May on media placements through Ohio-based Flexpoint Media.