Ron DeSantis hauls $15M in Q3, with an eye toward make-or-break Iowa

Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is touting its third quarter fundraising and suggesting yet again that Iowa is make-or-break for the Governor’s White House hopes.

According to The New York Times, the DeSantis operation raised approximately $15 million between the campaign itself, his political action committee, and a fundraising committee between July 1 and Sept. 30. The campaign entered October with $13.5 million cash-on-hand, with $5 million available spend in the Primaries, the Times notes.

Per Campaign Manager James Uthmeier, the fundraising performance “shuts down the doubters who counted out Ron DeSantis for far too long,” giving DeSantis “resources” he needs for “Iowa and beyond.”

But to put that money in perspective, DeSantis launched his campaign with $82.5 million moved over from a state-level political committee to his Never Back Down super PAC, suggesting that resources are much more limited than they were earlier this year.

The Times also notes that a large portion of the DeSantis operation will set up in the Hawkeye State until the January caucuses.

“About a third of Mr. DeSantis’s campaign staff, including senior political and communications advisers, were informed on Wednesday morning that they would be expected to move into short-term housing in Iowa and work from offices in the state. His campaign now employs 56 people, including four Iowa staffers — a number that will soon grow to nearly two dozen, making Iowa a de facto second headquarters,” the Times reports.

DeSantis has presented Iowa as his best shot against Donald Trump, telling reporters during a press conference Tuesday that opponents should “collapse” behind him so that anti-Trump votes weren’t split among candidates.

“Here’s what we know. We know that the only two candidates that have a chance to win the Iowa caucus are myself and Donald Trump. That’s it,” DeSantis said.

A survey of 400 Hawkeye State Republicans from the Citizen Awareness Project, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies on Sept. 28 and 29, shows that “Iowa caucus-goers, especially those who watched, say Ron DeSantis won this week’s GOP debate.”

DeSantis, per the polling memo, is viewed as the “strongest on border security” and “best able to defeat Donald Trump” by more than 40% of likely caucus goers.

A CBS News survey released last week showed DeSantis above 20% in the state, though 30 points behind Trump.

DeSantis’ campaign has depicted its Iowa effort as a “drive toward victory.” The DeSantis team’s confidence that Iowa is a “two-man race” is rooted in Trump’s Make America Great Again super PAC spending again against the Governor in Iowa, after taking a break from expenditures during the summer.

“Trump has shot himself in the foot in Iowa and opened the door, and Ron DeSantis is about to kick it down. The hard work the Governor is putting in now to complete the ‘Full Grassley’ is going to pay dividends in the long-run and allow us to drive toward victory,” wrote spokesman Andrew Romeo last week.