Ron DeSantis has a money problem hiding behind his donation numbers

Ron DeSantis has a money problem: Most of the cash in his campaign’s account is off limits, and the donors who have fueled his strong fundraising so far are people he can’t ask again for more money.

A POLITICO analysis shows that roughly 75 percent of all money raised by DeSantis came from donors who can no longer give again for the primary: DeSantis raised $31.3 million through the end of September, and of that, $23.8 million came from more than 3,800 donors who have each given at least the maximum primary amount of $3,300.

No other candidate comes close to those figures. For Nikki Haley, that number is 44 percent; for Tim Scott, it’s 36 percent; for Vivek Ramaswamy, it is 23 percent, excluding his self-funding.

DeSantis has had a strong cash haul since launching his presidential campaign in May, raising the most of any GOP primary candidate other than former President Donald Trump.

His campaign pointed to the high-number of maxed-out donors as a sign of strength alongside small-dollar donors.

“Not only has Ron DeSantis garnered support from over 100,000 grassroots conservative donors, but he also has more donors who are all-in to support his vision to revive America than any other candidate in the field,” said Communications Director Andrew Romeo. “It seems like you should be asking the other campaigns why they've had to compensate for lackluster enthusiasm with gift cards and other bullshit gimmicks that we have too much respect for our supporters to deploy.”

Big donors have given DeSantis a leg up over the rest of the field. But his campaign now faces a two-fold problem: Many of his top donors can’t give any more to him, and a chunk of the money they have provided can’t be used until a general election.

All told, less than half the cash in DeSantis’ campaign account can be used for the primary — a smaller share than every other major Republican candidate. Every candidate has some general-only cash in their campaign account thanks to big benefactors. Haley is sitting on around $2.4 million, while Scott has just shy of $1.6 million he cannot touch until after the primary, according to a POLITICO analysis.

But DeSantis has by far the most cash locked up, at $6.1 million. When it comes to cash available to his campaign as of the end of September, he was closer to lower-polling and less-funded candidates such as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy than to Trump.

Big donors who have already given the maximum to DeSantis’ campaign can still give to the super PAC supporting him, Never Back Down, which has provided on-the-ground support in early primary states and spent more than $37 million on ads. But the super PAC can’t legally coordinate with the campaign. And DeSantis will need to expand his donor base in order to raise more money as he fights to better position himself heading into the primary season.

The Florida governor recently made a pitch to top GOP donors as to why they should fund his campaign over Haley’s, saying he remained their best bet to knock off Trump in the Republican primary. And his campaign moved to cut down on expenses over the last few months, according to a campaign finance report it filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission.

The DeSantis campaign pointed to strong fundraising totals in the days after it announced its numbers earlier this month, but declined to comment further.

Under federal campaign finance law, donors can give presidential candidates up to $3,300 per election. DeSantis’ reliance on donors who hit that threshold is significant because campaigns frequently re-solicit the same donors for contributions over the course of a cycle. Fundraising takes time and money, and campaigns looking to raise quick cash often find it easiest to call upon donors who have already shown financial support.

The dependence on large donors is a major way in which DeSantis differs from Trump, who has long been unique among Republicans for his strength with small-dollar donors. Of the nearly $60 million in the former president’s campaign account, just $1.9 million comes from donors who have given at least $3,300. His contributors can keep giving, and his filings suggest many do.

In practice, the $3,300 per-election donation limit means wealthy contributors can cut checks of up to $6,600 to a presidential campaign — but campaigns can only use half that amount for the primary and must earmark the remainder until the general election stage, if they make it that far.

The campaign has taken steps to change its financial course.

Sunday’s financial disclosure showed it cut back significantly on expenses and saw an increase in fundraising each month from July through September. The increase continued to be driven largely by donors who maxed out, although smaller donations did also tick up slightly.

But donations from the smallest donors, those giving less than $200, totaled just $2.5 million in the third quarter, down from $2.8 million raised in the first six weeks of his campaign.

With spending down to more sustainable levels, DeSantis still has cash to sustain his operations. And there is plenty of time left to gain new donors. His campaign said it raised $1 million within 48 hours of releasing its third quarter fundraising numbers in early October.