The campaign of Florida Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is planning to spend $2 million on buying ads in Iowa that will air mid-November and run through January 15, when the state’s caucus is held.
The reported purchase makes the DeSantis campaign the first to buy ads in the state that will last until the state likely kicks off the presidential primary season (New Hampshire’s date has not yet been set, though it is typically held in February).
Last week, the DeSantis campaign announced it was relocating a third of its staff to the Hawkeye State as it attempts to build momentum early in the primary season. Iowa is one of the states where DeSantis is performing relatively well, though he still trails former US President Donald Trump by roughly 30 points.
However, in other early primary states, namely New Hampshire and South Carolina, DeSantis has lost his second-place status to former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley following her strong performance in two Republican primary debates.
The $2 million ad buy marks a significant portion of the funds the DeSantis campaign has at its disposal. At the start of October, the campaign reported it had roughly $5 million in cash on hand, though the campaign also announced it raised an additional $1 million less than 48 hours after it announced its third-quarter funding.
The campaign insists this rapid funding and campaign ad buy shows its previous financial woes are long behind it.
“We are in this for the long haul,” DeSantis campaign manager James Uthmeier told US media, “and this ad buy is another demonstration to early-state voters that we are going to aggressively work to earn their support.”
Despite trailing in the polls, the campaign says it plans to win in Iowa and then carry that momentum to the nomination.
“We’re playing to win in Iowa, then on to New Hampshire, and we will have the resources needed to get the job done,” DeSantis’ deputy campaign manager David Polyansky said. “It is either Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump in Iowa … and for the nomination,” he added.
There has already been a massive amount of spending in the state by Republicans seeking the nomination, roughly $49 million, though most of it comes from outside groups like PACs.
But PACs are legally forbidden from directly coordinating with candidates - even when they openly support one, meaning that while PACs can use footage from the campaign trail or from earlier in the candidate’s career, they cannot appear in the ads directly. According to the campaign, the ad buy will allow DeSantis to speak directly to voters, giving those ads a more personal touch compared to PAC-funded ads.
Campaigns also get a better rate for their ads compared to PACs, allowing their dollars to be stretched further.