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The One Reason Ron DeSantis Could Beat Donald Trump

DeSantis is in the enviable position of being cash rich. And while Trump is the clear-cut frontrunner, DeSantis could well make the contest tight.  

Governor Ron DeSantis. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Governor Ron DeSantis speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida.

Much has been made of former President Donald Trump’s surge in the GOP polls, especially concerning Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Whereas DeSantis once led the GOP field, Trump has since firmly reestablished a significant lead, demonstrating that the Grand Old Party is still Trump’s to lose.

But DeSantis maintains one advantage over Trump (and the rest of the field). A vital advantage: cash.

“As he prepares to enter the presidential race in the coming weeks DeSantis sits atop accounts poise to support his candidacy that total more than $110 million, according to public filings and people who represent the entities,” POLITICO reported. “And that’s all without him opening an official campaign committee account.”

No one else comes close

To put DeSantis’s cash reserves in perspective, consider the rest of the GOP contenders. Donald Trump – a political phenomenon, a political institution who has dominated his party for nearly a decade – has raised $55 million to date, $18 million of which was raised after announcing his campaign. DeSantis, on the other hand, has raised two dollars for each of Trump’s one – all without declaring a campaign.

DeSantis has $80 million in a Florida-based PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis, which is left over from his gubernatorial campaign (an election that he won by 20 points over former Florida Governor Charlie Crist). The money sitting in the Florida PAC can be transferred into a federal PAC.

And more will come.

“If DeSantis gets in, he’s going to have a huge amount of momentum and I think the donor class and the raiser class are going to be with him,” Roy Bailey, a Texas fundraiser, told POLITICO. “The people I speak to are either major donors or major raisers. For a time now, it has been very clear to me from my conversations around the country with those people that they are hoping DeSantis gets in the race and I think their money will follow.”

But other problems persist for Ron DeSantis

While money doesn’t seem to be a problem for DeSantis, other problems persist. DeSantis has been the subject of intense criticism lately – for his stance on abortion, his perspective on Ukraine, and his feud with Disney.

On abortion, DeSantis signed a bill that would ban most abortions in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy. The ban won’t go into effect until the Florida Supreme Court overturns an existing precedent on abortion, but DeSantis has made his position clear – a position that is controversial amongst voters, and which threatens to disrupt unity amongst the GOP.

On Ukraine, DeSantis was critical of US involvement, calling the Russo-Ukraine War a “territorial dispute” in Eastern Europe. Democrats and Republicans, united in their bellicosity, both condemned DeSantis’s comments, earning him the dreaded tag: isolationist.

And then there’s the feud with Disney, which frankly, looks more and more like a personal vendetta every day. The feud has opened the door for Republican competitors to criticize DeSantis for being anti-business, for using state power to antagonize a private company – no-no’s in the pro-business Republican Party. Fellow GOP candidate Nikki Haley has mockingly invited Disney to move to her home state South Carolina, where the company would be unharried.

Regardless, DeSantis is in the enviable position of being cash rich. And while Trump is the clear-cut frontrunner, DeSantis could well make the contest tight.  

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Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

Written By

Harrison Kass is a Senior Defense Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison has degrees from Lake Forest College, the University of Oregon School of Law, and New York University’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. He lives in Oregon and regularly listens to Dokken.