Ron DeSantis Continues Dominance Over Dem Challengers in Fundraising, Hauls in Nearly $3M in June

It was reported today that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) continued his dominance over his Dem challengers in fundraising.

The Friends of Ron DeSantis political committee in June raised $2,862,423 in donations, according to FloridaPolitics.com.

DeSantis now has a whopping nearly $42M on hand after finishing May with nearly $40M.

After announcing her intentions to enter the primary, the state’s Agriculture Commissioner and only statewide elected Democratic official Nikki Fried announced that she had raised a little over $800,000 in June.

About 92 percent of contributions to Fried fell below $100 and one Democrat on Twitter noted, “@NikkiFried received more individual contributions in her first 24 hours as a candidate for governor than @CharlieCrist received in his first month as one.”

.@NikkiFried received more individual contributions in her first 24 hours as a candidate for governor than @CharlieCrist received in his first month as one. #FlaPol

— Evan Ross 🇺🇸 (@MrEvanRoss) July 6, 2021

Fried’s opponent and former Gov. Charlie Crist raised just a paltry $130,500 last month after a stronger start in his first month.

Previously, we reported:

U.S House Rep Charlie Crist (D-FL) raised the most by a Democrat opponent, an amount that was 5x less than DeSantis at $1.5M in May.

Crist insisted, however, that he would catch up with DeSantis and said, “We’ll have the resources to compete. We’ll be there.”

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the other Democratic challenger and highest ranking elected Florida official, through the end of May, had about $1.5M total in her political committee.

Fried added only $215K in May, although she just announced her candidacy at the beginning of this month.

As BizPacReview noted, during the 2018 campaign, both DeSantis and his Democratic opponent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, reportedly spent about $100 million.

DeSantis boasts incredible popularity in the state as a Cherry Communications survey conducted on behalf of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and published last month shows that 55 percent of Floridians approve of DeSantis’s job performance versus 40 percent who disapprove. 

The Florida governor leads Crist in polling by a margin of 51-41 percent and Fried by a larger margin of 51-39 percent.

In April, DeSantis raised $14M as he played a round of golf with former President Donald Trump and joined Trump, Pompeo, and hundreds of Republicans at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser dinner.