Ron DeSantis is relying on big donors and his super PACFor Ron DeSantis, whose presidential campaign began in earnest eight weeks ago on a glitchy Twitter live-stream, even good news seems to be bad news. Newly released data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show the Florida governor outraised Donald Trump during the second quarter and raised some 43% more than his competitors Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie and Mike Pence combined. But these splashy fundraising numbers disguise a looming problem for Mr DeSantis: an overreliance on big-dollar donors.
From May through June Mr DeSantis raised $20.1m and spent $7.9m, a burn rate of 39%. Compared with the same period during the 2020 election cycle, this seems modest. During the second quarter of 2019, Mr Trump’s campaign had a burn rate of 40%, and then-front-runners of the Democratic primaries Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden both slightly exceeded 50%.
The DeSantis campaign’s financial state will become clearer then, too. Super PACs—which can take unlimited donations from undisclosed donors on behalf of campaigns so long as they do not co-ordinate with them—have the same July 31st filing deadline. “Never Back Down”, a DeSantis-aligned super PAC, is allegedly flush with cash. But without co-ordination between the campaign and super PACs, efficient use of these funds is tricky. And come January, it will be the individual donors, not the super PACs, who shuffle into ballot boxes to decide their 2024 Republican nominee. Mr DeSantis would do well to woo them even if their wallets are slimmer. ■
2023-07-20 08:21:29
Link from www.economist.com
rnrn
