Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has $80 million of his reported $110 million war chest in a state political action committee, as he proves to be a fundraising leader even if he trails former President Donald Trump in the polls.
DeSantis' big-donor haul is punctuated by former Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli's Never Back Down national PAC having raised another $30 million since March 9, The New York Times reported Saturday. Cuccinelli was the deputy secretary of Homeland Security under Trump.
"He is in the most enviable financial position of any candidate," GOP strategist Mike Murphy told the Times of DeSantis' big money. "There are questions in Republican circles about DeSantis' candidate skills — can he make the transition from being the governor of a Republican state, where you exist on people's TV screens, to the microscope of New Hampshire and Iowa?"
Notably the $80 million tied into a Florida PAC is another hurdle DeSantis might face, because transferring the "soft" money donations not under federally imposed limits to a presidential campaign could prove difficult, according to the report.
"Gov. DeSantis isn't even an announced candidate and supporters from all 50 states have already stepped up and donated to the Never Back Down movement," Never Back Down Communications Director Erin Perrine told the Times. "Should he decide to run for president, he will be a grassroots-fueled force to be reckoned with."
Cuccinelli's Never Back Down taking in the Florida PAC's $80 million might raise red flags, according to campaign finance watchdogs.
"Can he take that money, which was raised through his state PAC, and use it to advance his presidential campaign directly or through a federal super PAC supporting him?" Campaign Legal Center Director Saurav Ghosh, a former Federal Elections Commission enforcement lawyer, told the Times. "The commonsense answer, and the law, says no."
"The unfortunate reality is that the FEC is probably not going to do anything about it."
The FEC said suggestions it would look away from enforcing its limits "misinformed."
"Without commenting on any specific case, commissioners assess each enforcement matter on its merits, and we reach agreement in nearly 90% of them," FEC Chair Dara Lindenbaum and Vice Chair Sean Cooksey wrote in a statement to the Times.
Among the Friends of Ron DeSantis state PAC contributions, according to the Times:
- $2.5 million from Philadelphia investment manager Jeff Yass.
- $1.3 million from essential oils marketing company founder Gregory Cook.
- $1 million from TD Ameritrade founder and Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts.
- $1 million from Florida billionaire John Childs.
- $1 million from Pennsylvania chemical company founder Stefan Brodie.
Super PAC dollars are not equivalent to individual campaign contributions, which are now capped at $3,300 per person, particularly with regard to television ads that cost more for PACs than individual candidate committees, the Times reported.
"You make me choose between a bundler and a big check writer, I'd rather have the hard dollars," Murphy told the Times. "Most bundlers really need to be pursued — and that goes back to the interpersonal skills."
DeSantis is still going to have to talk his way into the specific support from the big donors.
"I think he's had a wobbly few weeks in communicating to donors," former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and 2008 GOP-nominee Mitt Romney consultant Rob Stutzman told the Times, adding those that want to challenge Trump might "start to imagine — maybe this isn't the way."
While Trump's fundraising had gotten off to a slow start, it has picked up quickly after the indictment, raising more than $12 million in less than a week, according to the Times.