The campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is making its first foray into the air battles in Iowa with a $2 million ad buy that will run there from mid-November through the night of the caucuses on January 15.
By doing so, the campaign will be the first to reserve airtime in Iowa during the caucuses, highlighting how crucial the state is to DeSantis’ chances of winning the presidency. The campaign revealed last week that a third of its employees will move there from Tallahassee, Florida. The funding is now a further indication of how former President Donald Trump’s opponents are making investments in the region in an effort to stop him from building on his January victory that placed him first in the nation.
After entering October with $5 million in cash on hand available to spend in the primary, the latest ad purchase represents a major percentage of the DeSantis campaign’s spending plan. DeSantis claimed to have raised $15 million in the third quarter through several organizations, although part of that money is ineligible for direct spending in the primary.
Campaign officials reported that DeSantis raised an extra $1 million within 48 hours of making the third-quarter fundraising announcement. They cited this development, along with the upcoming ad buy, as proof that the terrible financial position that dogged his campaign at the start is improving.
The team also hopes that by dispelling rumors that DeSantis will soon withdraw from the race, which were encouraged by Trump and his allies, this advertisement buy will inspire confidence in contributors and supporters.
DeSantis campaign manager James Uthmeier stated, “We are in this for a long time, and this media buy is a further example to early-state voters that we will continue to aggressively work to earn their support.”
Why commit such a large portion of the campaign’s reserve? “This is only the beginning. David Polyansky, DeSantis’ deputy campaign manager, stated that the team is playing to win in Iowa before moving on to New Hampshire.
According to the campaign’s argument, Iowa is the greatest place to prevent Donald Trump from prancing through the remaining primary season and winning unavoidably.
Though Trump still leads him by an average of almost 30 points in the public polling averages, it is the state where DeSantis is now in the greatest position. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley is now in second position in recent surveys from South Carolina and New Hampshire. And last week, the Trump campaign boasted about its own financial standing, saying it still has millions to spend on the primaries.
The campaign, according to Polyansky, “doesn’t want to compete with the previous president on a press release about funds or dispute about a fictitious national primary. Instead, it has always been our intention to make him defensive in Iowa.
The DeSantis team believes it has succeeded in provoking Trump into a confrontation in Iowa already, pointing to the former president’s heightened recent presence in the state and the expenditure of his super PAC, which has spent approximately $5 million so far this election season.
Now that we’ve demonstrated our capacity to recover, gather the necessary funds, and assemble an organization ready to compete and prevail in Iowa before continuing the fight in New Hampshire and beyond, Uthmeier said.
Super PACs and other outside organizations have spent the majority of the money on advertisements so far in this election cycle, not the campaigns themselves. According to the ad-tracking company AdImpact, Republicans have already forked over a staggering $140 million on advertisements for the presidential contest. Approximately 70% of that came from super PACs supporting a certain GOP candidate. Republicans have invested a total of $49 million in advertising during the Iowa primary, with two-thirds of that amount coming from super PACs supporting certain candidates.
But when the campaigns themselves distribute the funds, there are a few significant distinctions.
Since campaigns are paid more for the same ad spaces that outside organizations are, their money is spent more effectively than it would be by a super PAC. Campaigns can also invite their candidates to appear in the advertising. Super PACs are not legally permitted to collaborate with campaigns on strategy. They could therefore use news material or film from the campaign trail for their advertising, but they cannot compose an advertisement for a candidate.
The DeSantis team intends to carry out this strategy, saying to NBC News that the governor’s new ad campaign will have a customized touch and will provide him the chance to communicate directly to voters and solicit their support without going through a third party’s filter. As DeSantis nears completing the “Full Grassley,” or as it is known in local politics, a thorough tour of Iowa’s 99 counties, his advisers hope that this would support the work he has been doing locally. He has now been to 74 different counties.
DeSantis won’t be the only person on TV, though. According to an NBC News review of AdImpact data, Sen. Tim Scott’s team began spending considerably on Iowa advertisements in late May and hasn’t stopped since. The most of any presidential candidate’s campaign since the beginning of the cycle, Scott’s has spent $6.4 million on commercials in Iowa. This includes $1.8 million in advertisements from September 1 to the present, during which time he has been the only contender in Iowa to spend a significant amount of money on air.
Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, who has spent $2.6 million, is the next-closest candidate in terms of total Iowa ad spending.
DeSantis is getting ready to enter the advertising fray while also getting ready to take some blows from the front-runner.
“There is no doubt that the Trump side will continue to spend more money on false attacks against Ron DeSantis in Iowa on top of the millions they have already wasted,” said Polyansky. They are indicating, as we all know, that Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis will prevail in Iowa and win the nomination, he continued.