Chris Lange, FISM News
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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raked in $8.2 million in the 24-hour period after he announced his presidential campaign Wednesday, despite its rocky launch. By comparison, Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign raised $6.3 million in the first 24 hours of his candidacy, according to The New York Times.
“This historic fundraising haul shows that grassroots Republicans across the country are uniting behind Governor DeSantis’ vision for our Great American Comeback,” Generra Peck, a member of DeSantis’ 2024 campaign team, said in a Twitter post.
Campaign spokesperson Bryan Griffin tweeted on Wednesday that $1 million was raised online within one hour of the announcement.
“There was so much enthusiasm for Governor DeSantis’ vision for our Great American Comeback that he literally busted up the internet. Washington is next,” Griffin wrote.
Donations were made mostly through online contributions and phone solicitations from volunteers.
TRUMP PAC DISMISSIVE OF REPORT, MOCKS DESANTIS
DeSantis’ stunning fundraising haul is believed to have also surpassed donations made to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign in the two-day period following his announcement, though the former president did not release a figure.
Make America Great Again, Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC, downplayed the fundraising milestone and instead continued to mock DeSantis’ glitch-filled campaign launch in true Trumpian fashion.
“After a three-month shadow campaign, including a legislative session that clearly leveraged Florida taxpayer money to elevate his fundraising efforts, DeSantis was still not able to raise enough money to make up for his botched campaign launch,” Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for Make America Great Again Inc., wrote in a statement.
“His record of targeting senior benefits, wanting to raise taxes, and withholding funding for the border wall makes this campaign dead on arrival. No amount of money will change that.”
The PAC also posted a blurb from an NBC News article on its website which alleged that DeSantis’ administration was “sending text messages to Florida lobbyists soliciting political contributions for DeSantis’ presidential bid,” which NBC declared to be “a breach of traditional norms that has raised ethical and legal questions and left many here in the state capital shocked.”
Trump himself responded to DeSantis’ fundraising haul on Truth Social by reposting the results of an Iowa Emerson College poll showing him with a 42-point lead over DeSantis among Republican voters. The survey was conducted days prior to DeSantis’ announcement.
TWITTER ENGINEER CHIEF RESIGNS DAY AFTER LACKLUSTER LAUNCH
Meanwhile, a day after DeSantis’ campaign launch on Twitter was beset with embarrassing technical glitches, the social media company’s chief engineer tendered his resignation.
“After almost four incredible years at Twitter, I decided to leave the nest yesterday,” Foad Dabir tweeted on Thursday. The announcement made no reference to DeSantis, nor did it offer an explanation for Dabir’s departure.