In the first 24 hours after launching his bid for president in 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis collected a record $8.2 million as he is headed for a pricey and contentious primary against former President Donald Trump.
The amount is made up of both online contributions and funds gathered by fundraisers at a meeting in Miami where people could make gifts by phone, DeSantis’ campaign said. It’s unknown how much money each approach raised in total.
DeSantis raised $8.2 million, which is more than President Biden did on the first day of his 2020 campaign when he raised $6.3 million, and more than Donald Trump did in the first six months of his 2024 campaign when he raised $9.5 million.
Only South Carolina Senator Tim Scott started his presidential campaign with more “hard” money, or funds received within legal fundraising restrictions, having nearly $22 million in his Senate reelection account before he moved it to his campaign.
Republican organizations have already spent over $36 million on commercials for the 2024 election, according to statistics from the advertisement tracking company AdImpact.
