(NewsNation) — The political action committee supporting former President Donald Trump has spent more than $15.3 million in ads targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, surpassing the entire amount the group spent supporting 2022 midterm candidates.
The Make America Great Again, Inc. super PAC’s latest ad buy was for $2.8 million in Iowa and New Hampshire last week, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
It brings the total spending against DeSantis to $15,331,318.68, compared to the $15,030,850.16 the PAC spent in the 2022 election cycle across multiple Senate races.
A spokesman for DeSantis’ political team said the spending figures show Trump views the Florida governor as a real threat.
“These are the largest ongoing expenditures against a non-candidate in Republican primary history, and that’s all you need to know to draw the obvious conclusion: Governor DeSantis presents the best option for defeating Joe Biden,” press secretary Bryan Griffin told NewsNation.
By contrast, the PAC has spent just $1,500 in pro-Trump ads for the 2024 cycle.
The latest advertisement zeroed in on a sales tax plan DeSantis supported while a member of Congress, calling him “Ron DeSalesTax.” In another, a man eats pudding with his fingers, an apparent reference to a Daily Beast story that claimed DeSantis once ate pudding with his fingers during a plane trip in 2019.
“Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don’t belong. And we’re not just talking about pudding,” a narrator in the TV ad says. “DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements, like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, and even raising our retirement age.”
DeSantis hasn’t entered the race yet but is expected to this week. Polling averages from FiveThirtyEight show Trump as the front-runner with DeSantis a distant second, which Trump frequently points out on his Truth Social platform.
