DeSantis off to hot start in fund raising

 CBS News:

A super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential run has raised $500,000 into a separate draft committee that is expected to be transferred directly to his campaign in the coming days, CBS News has learned, according to a person familiar with the move.

The group, "Never Back Down" has been encouraging donors to contribute online to the "Draft DeSantis 2024 Fund," a super PAC created in early March to house money from DeSantis donors until his campaign launch. Super PACs can raise unlimited funds, but they are generally considered expenditure-only, meaning they cannot contribute directly to a candidate.

The $500,000 raised by Never Back Down from March through DeSantis' launch on Wednesday, comes from 10,726 individual donors, with an average donation of $47 to the fund. Only donations for the primary election were solicited, and they all were subjected to the $3,300 max contribution limit to super PACs allowed by federal law.

"We want to help show Ron that if he gets in this race, his first day fundraising will be huge. So go to our website and donate today, so we can make day one of Ron DeSantis for President a huge fundraising bonanza," super PAC founder Ken Cuccinelli said in a March Facebook ad asking for online contributions.
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The DeSantis campaign said Thursday night that it raised $8.2 million within the first 24 hours of launching. This sum does not include any transfer by the Never Back Down PAC, according to the New York Times.

Campaign finance experts called the move "unprecedented" and had mixed reactions on if it violated FEC regulations.The transfer of "hard" campaign dollars — money raised under federal fundraising limits — from a super PAC to a campaign has not ever been tried, largely because different laws govern the two types of fundraising entities.

But in this case, Paul Seamus Ryan, a campaign finance expert, told CBS News that Never Back Down is "seemingly circumventing" a prohibition on super PACs directly transferring donations to the campaign, by using the separate draft committee PAC.
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DeSantis will need it all and more to overcome the current advantage held by Donald Trump.  The GOP may have others join the race to challenge Biden or some other Democrat.  Currently, Biden is looking like a weak candidate polling in the 30's.

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