Florida Gov. DeSantis Crushes the Competition, Raises $7.5M in May

It was reported today that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is continuing to crush the competition in fundraising, hauling in another $7.5M in May, bringing is total to nearly $40M.

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.

Amount raised by Florida gubernatorial candidates in May:

Ron DeSantis (R): $7.5 million
Charlie Crist (D): $1.2 million
Nikki Fried (D): $215k

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 11, 2021

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.