Florida Phoenix
With Hurricane Ian bearing down on Florida, political advertising may slow down in the coming days. That would put a pause on what has so far been an overwhelming advantage in TV this month for Gov. Ron DeSantis over Charlie Crist in the race for Florida Governor.
Between Sept. 5-18, 2022, there were more than 13,000 broadcasts touting DeSantis’ candidacy for re-election, vs. just 881 ads with a pro-Crist message. That’s a 15-1 discrepancy, according to a blog post at the Wesleyan Media Project.
DeSantis also dominated social media during that two-week period, spending $470,000 on Facebook and Google, while Crist spent $45,000. Crist is a former Republican Governor, Attorney General and Education Commissioner before he became a Democrat and Congressman. (Crist recently resigned his U.S. House seat to campaign for governor.)
DeSantis emergence as a national figure has helped him raise an astonishing $189 million to date, according to OpenSecrets. That breaks the previous gubernatorial fundraising record held by Meg Whitman, the former eBay and Hewlett Packard CEO, who raised $178 million in her unsuccessful bid for Governor of California in 2010. The major difference between those two campaigns is that Whitman’s campaign was mostly self-financed.
Crist has raised just under $20 million, also according to OpenSecrets.
Florida’s Division of Elections show that the Friends of Ron DeSantis committee has totaled $187.1 million, which includes the most recent filing period of Sept. 10-16, 2022. Of that amount, DeSantis has spent $81.9 million.
The Florida Governor has emerged as a national figure in GOP politics over the past year and is considered a top candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 2024, particularly if former President Donald Trump does not run. Yet despite his overwhelming lead in fundraising and his subsequent dominance on the airwaves, the Governor’s race remains within single digits, according to recent polls.
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released last week shows DeSantis up by seven percentage points, 48%-41%. A Susquehanna Polling and Research survey taken earlier this month had DeSantis up by four points, 47%-43%.
DeSantis defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum in the race for Florida Governor by less than half a percentage point in the 2018 gubernatorial election, a margin so close that it triggered an automatic machine recount. Since 2018 though, Republicans have superseded Democrats in party registration in Florida for the first time ever, and that lead continues to grow.
According to data published on the state’s Division of Elections website last week, Republicans now have a near 270,000 voter advantage over Democrats. Between July 25 and August 31, Republicans had a net gain of more than 40,000 voters over Democrats.
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Mitch Perry reporting via the Florida Phoenix.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: [email protected]. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
20 comments
Tom
September 28, 2022 at 8:33 am
The storm isn’t as bad as they say it is. Not worth listening to fake news and missing this epic deep sea fishing. Don’t let the media deprive you of a world record fish. Now is the time. Once you get out a few miles it’s smooth sailing..
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PeterH
September 28, 2022 at 9:04 am
As reported last evening by Matt Dixon, a writer for Politico, pictures of DeSantis’s white appointee Gadsden County Commissioner Jeff Moore have surfaced showing the commissioner proudly dressed in a white Klu Klux Klan attire.
Now, no one should be at all surprised that Jeff Moore and many other North Florida Republicans have draped Klan outfits hanging in the back of their bedroom closets. Additionally it should surprise no one that the DeSantis regime failed to vet this candidate before his appointment to govern a predominantly black county. Readers must realize that THIS OUTRAGEOUS APPOINTMENT WAS INTENTIONAL to threaten and keep minorities in their place.
Every consequential DeSantis administration action solidifies my belief that IF WE ALLOW IT ……our Southern State is to be aligned with the values of 1940’s Alabama and Mississippi.
REPUBLICANS ARE AMERICA’S PROBLEM!
VOTE ALL REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE.
Harsh Truths
September 29, 2022 at 10:50 am
Layoff CNN and MSNBC.
BTW, you may know me better as PeterH Is A Moron.
Biker Guy
September 29, 2022 at 12:43 pm
Harsh Lies, you need to do some reading. The commissioner resigned because of the pictures.
Tjb
September 28, 2022 at 10:29 am
Florida is a hot bed for Anti-Semitic and white-supremacy’s groups. Has Ron DeSantis denounce these groups in his ads?
Harsh Truths
September 29, 2022 at 10:52 am
Why should he have to denounce them? He has more important things to do besides satisfying your nonsensical urge.
Biker Guy
September 29, 2022 at 12:44 pm
It’s true, republicans aren’t capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. All the more reason to vote them out of office.
Tjb
September 30, 2022 at 10:35 am
If DeSantis has time to campaign on Fox, he has time to denounce these hate groups.
David in Shoreline
September 28, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Thank you for the excellent leadership Governor DeSantis. I could have said that two weeks ago and it would have been perfectly accurate. But even more so now, given the tremendous effort of the Governor and his team in responding to Hurricane Ian.
Concern Citizen
September 28, 2022 at 12:20 pm
And thanks to President Biden
For his quick response to help Floridians.
Harsh Truths
September 29, 2022 at 10:53 am
Thank him for doing his job that many other presidents have also done?
Biker Guy
September 29, 2022 at 12:47 pm
Thank him for doing it without the tiny-minded partisanship that the orange stain exhibited.
Tjb
September 30, 2022 at 10:32 am
And before you praise DeSantis for his recovery efforts … Desantis is just doing the job that any half way decent governor is able to do.
Ian3000
September 28, 2022 at 2:03 pm
A quick reminder as #HurricaneIan is trashing Florida that back in 2013 Marco Rubio and then-Congressman Ron DeSantis voted AGAINST aid for Hurricane Sandy
Daniela Patterson
September 28, 2022 at 3:04 pm
It’s the Republican way! They don’t want to help anyone! Are the first to ask for it though! This may affect his Re Election! He hasn’t had to handle anything in 3 years!
Harsh Truths
September 29, 2022 at 10:55 am
“I sympathize with the victims of Hurricane Sandy and believe that those who purchased flood insurance should have their claims paid. At the same time, allowing the program to increase its debt by another $9.7 billion with no plan to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere is not fiscally responsible,” DeSantis said in a statement.
https://www.tampabay.com/content/new-reps-ron-desantis-ted-yoho-vote-against-hurricane-sandy-aid/2104196/
Biker Guy
September 29, 2022 at 12:46 pm
The article is about how much money he has spent trying to cling to office. Did you read it?
Biker Guy
September 29, 2022 at 12:47 pm
Thank him for doing it without the tiny-minded partisanship that the orange stain exhibited.
Elliott Offen
September 29, 2022 at 7:50 pm
If the orange shit stain has been president..he would have thrown paper towels to the families of dead hurricane victims. Asked for money at their funerals..and promoted himself on television.
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