Latest campaign finance numbers: DeSantis takes in another $5.2M, Crist claims $1.5M

Gov. Ron DeSantis pulled in nearly $5.2 million for his political committee and campaign account in the closing days of October, as he continued to far outdistance Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist in raising money.

Newly filed finance reports show that DeSantis’ Friends of Ron DeSantis political committee raised about $4.48 million from Oct. 22 through Sunday, while his campaign received about $713,000.

Crist’s Friends of Charlie Crist committee raised slightly more than $360,000 during the period. Crist’s campaign received $1.15 million from Oct. 22 through Monday, according to the reports posted on the state Division of Elections website.

As an example of the financial gap between the candidates, DeSantis’ committee had about $85.7 million in cash on hand as of Sunday, while Crist’s committee had $1.77 million. As another example, the DeSantis committee received 11 separate contributions of at least $100,000 from Oct. 22 through Sunday. 

In other news, more than 3 million Floridians now have cast ballots in the Nov. 8 elections, with Republicans continuing to have an edge over Democrats, according to data posted Tuesday on the state Division of Elections website.

The data showed that 1,993,982 people had voted by mail, while 1,031,811 had gone to early voting sites.

Registered Republicans had cast a total of 1,295,316 ballots, while registered Democrats had cast 1,157,952. Unaffiliated voters had cast 531,235, while third-party voters had cast 41,290.

While Democrats led in voting by mail, Republicans had a 252,000-voter advantage over Democrats in people who went to early voting sites. 

All counties are required to offer early voting through Saturday, with 18 extending early voting to Sunday.