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Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign is planning to hit the airwaves in Iowa for the first time next month, reserving $2 million for television commercials in the first-in-the-nation GOP caucus state that would consume much of his cash reserves.
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The $2 million outlay for ads starting in mid-November — which can be modified over time — represents about 40 percent of the $5 million DeSantis’s campaign said it had at the end of September for use in the primary, a number that lags well behind what GOP polling leader Donald Trump’s campaign has said it has in its coffers.
In committing such a large share of its cash to advertising now, the campaign is redoubling its focus on Iowa and trying to send the message it can go the distance despite tight finances and a significant slide in the polls in recent months. DeSantis has fallen well behind Trump and has been overtaken by former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in South Carolina and New Hampshire, according to some surveys.
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The DeSantis campaign has been forced to scale back its operation this year. For months, it wasn’t clear that the Florida governor’s campaign would have any TV budget as they scrimped and laid off staff. Much of the work traditionally handled on the campaign side, including ads, field organizing and candidate events, has been outsourced to Never Back Down, a super PAC that can raise and spend unlimited funds.
DeSantis’s ad reservation, first reported by NBC, runs through the Iowa caucuses Jan. 15 and comes a week after the campaign announced that about a third of its staff would relocate to Iowa.
The Florida governor’s team is increasingly counting on a strong showing in Iowa to upend a race that Trump is dominating, usually leading the Florida governor by more than 40 points nationally and more than 30 points in Iowa.
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Trump has recently ramped up his travel to Iowa, which DeSantis’s team has touted as a sign they are mounting a serious challenge there. DeSantis has also recently ramped up his attacks on Trump, broadly taking a more aggressive posture toward his rival than he had earlier this year.
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“No one is working harder in Iowa to take their message directly to voters than Ron DeSantis, and this media reservation will compliment the historic organization he has already built in the Hawkeye State,” campaign communications director Andrew Romeo said in a statement Thursday. DeSantis has promised to visit all of Iowa’s 99 counties and as of this week had made it to 74.
Campaign officials said they entered October with $5 million that can be used in the primary despite a much larger overall haul, with much of their money coming from donors who have given the maximum allowed for both the primary and the general. That puts DeSantis in a tighter spot than rising rival Haley, whose campaign said it entered October with $9 million on hand available for the primary. And Trump, who dwarfs the field in small-dollar fundraising, finished the quarter with nearly $36 million, his team said.
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DeSantis’s reservation comes a few days before campaigns’ financial reports for this year’s third fundraising quarter become public, shedding new light on their donations and expenses. The DeSantis campaign’s second-quarter report revealed a high burn rate that advisers later acknowledged was unsustainable as they let go of more than a third of their staff and said they were working to bring down other costs.
Campaign officials say they have gotten spending under control since then and raised $1 million in the 48 hours after disclosing their third-quarter fundraising total, adding to their cash on hand. But it’s not clear how much of that latest fundraising can be deployed in the primary.
While Never Back Down has been airing ads in Iowa, super PACs pay steeper rates to place ads and cannot coordinate with the candidate they support on messaging. Campaign ads get DeSantis’s message out more efficiently and allow the governor more control over it.
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Other candidates have already invested heavily in ads in Iowa but have struggled to gain traction.
Sen Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who saw a bump in Iowa polls over the summer but remains in the single digits, has dedicated more than $7 million to airtime there, while a supportive super PAC has allotted more than $16 million, according to the tracking firm AdImpact. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) has roughly $2 million.
Trump has dedicated only about $100,000 to Iowa ads this cycle, but a super PAC supporting him, MAGA Inc., has allotted about $6 million. A super PAC backing Haley has allotted nearly $9 million there.
Never Back Down and the pro-Scott super PAC have reserved the most in airtime across the country this cycle, according to AdImpact — more than $37 million apiece. MAGA Inc. has allotted more than $28 mill
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