More than $50M spent on Ron DeSantis ads over campaign, with Charlie Crist stepping up spending in final weeks

Crist_Desantis side_by_side (6)
DeSantis' campaign also chipped $26M to the Republican Party of Florida.

The 2022 Governor’s race saw more than $72.5 spent on advertising this election cycle.

That’s according to the latest reports released by Ad Impact, which show $54.6 million of that went to support Gov. Ron DeSantis.

That funding either came from DeSantis’ campaign or the Republican Party of Florida. That’s a hefty chunk of the $447 million in political advertisements in the entire state of Florida this year.

Far less went to support Democratic challenger Charlie Crist’s efforts to unseat the Governor. But the Democrat notably stepped up spending on media in the last two weeks of the campaign.

DeSantis’ official campaign reported $3,161,473 in total expenditures just in the two-week time frame of Oct. 22 to Nov. 3. In total, the campaign spent $22,513,769 over the last year.

Far more was spent on DeSantis’ behalf by the political committee Friends of Ron DeSantis, which pumped $28,713,007 in last minute spending in the final reporting period. But more than $26 million of that actually went to support broader efforts of the Republican Party of Florida.

The bulk of the spending from DeSantis’ candidate account in the final stretch went to various forms of advertising and outreach. A total of $1,340,000 went to Ohio-based Flexpoint Media Flexpoint Media for media placements during the last days of the cycle. Another $166,284 went to direct mail services through The Lukens Company Lukens Company in Virginia. The campaign also invested in various text messaging services.

The committee also invested heavily in text messaging, dropping $1,573,555 with Election Connections for that service in the last two weeks alone. The entity also spent $250,000 on media placements through Flexpoint itself.

The official candidate campaign has also reported other expenses, including spending $712,120 with Colorado-based canvassing service Blitz Canvassing, and paying $42,000 to Deep Root Analytics for Research.

Crist’s official campaign did save some juice for media in the last weeks of the campaign, and his official account reported $2,099,270 in expenses itself in the final reporting period.

Most of that went to ad buys and media spends, including $1,508,079 in ad buys through Washington-based GMMB and another $90,000 in media spends with GA Campaigns.

But Friends of Charlie Crist, his associated political committee, spent only $1,760,549 in the final stretch of the race. As with DeSantis’ committee, most of that was funneled to the party, with $1,650,000 kicked to the state Democratic Executive Committee. A modest $63,200 went to media spends through Rising Tide Interactive in Washington.

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


8 comments

  • Bill

    November 7, 2022 at 10:21 am

    I’m certainly sick of seeing the ads. He seems to think he’s the second coming of Jesus and trying to get me to vote for him because his wife had cancer is pretty pathetic. At least Christ gave it a break during the hurricane.

    • marylou

      November 7, 2022 at 11:03 am

      Don’t miss DeSatan’s campaign ad bragging about how God made Ron on the 8th Day to protect freedom in America. God has a speaking role! Blasphemy! Google it, all you MAGA doubters out there!

      VOTE OUT DELUSIONAL DESANTIS.

  • Impeach Biden

    November 7, 2022 at 10:27 am

    Save your money Ron and the Republicans, this thing is over. DeSantis will win easily.

    • The Real Tom

      November 7, 2022 at 11:03 am

      Ron DeSanctimonious will lose in 2024 so much more money was wasted on Ron DeSanctimonious.

    • marylou

      November 7, 2022 at 2:29 pm

      What do you think Ron Desanctimonious paid to get God to lie in Ron’s 8th Day of Creation ad?? That’s big getting God’s vote!

      RON BE GONE!
      VOTE OUT deBLASPHEMER!!

  • marylou

    November 7, 2022 at 10:47 am

    Desantis accuses school teachers of doing what he actually did as a teacher at Georgia’s Darlington School. Students reveal Desantis’ inappropriate behavior— in and out of the classroom:

    Google: Desantis students, Desantis New York Times students… etc.

    Desantis’ accusations=confessions.

  • Joe Corsin

    November 7, 2022 at 11:37 am

    Ron DeSantis is the Saddam Hussein of Florida.

  • David in Shoreline

    November 7, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    DeSantis got this! It’s gonna be a 10 – 14 point margin. In other words, a BLOWOUT.

    How many bedrooms in the White House? Remember, the Governor and First Lady have three children.

Comments are closed.


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