The campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is banking on a more ethical approach to fundraising to increase donor confidence and ultimately help the GOP collect more money than the Democrats.
The New York Times reports that the DeSantis campaign is avoiding fundraising strategies that have become commonplace in politics regardless of the party in power. The presidential campaign of the Florida Republican has promised not to use annoying fundraising strategies like urgent pleadings and false deadlines.
A wall at the DeSantis campaign offices in Tallahassee features the names of tens of thousands of low-dollar donations to drive home this point. In blue, red, or black writing, the names and initials of all the donors to the DeSantis campaign are shown.
“We want our staff to look at that wall, remember who supports us, to remember why we’re here,” said Generra Peck, DeSantis’s campaign manager.
The internet fundraising platform ActBlue has given the Democratic Party a long-standing lead over the Republican Party. Democrats tend to have more resources, which may translate to increased advertising and greater visibility. WinRed, the Republican Party’s response to the Democratic Fundraising Platform ActBlue, was developed 15 years later.
According to the Times, former president Donald Trump has raised more money for the Republican Party over the Internet than anybody else. Having learned from Trump’s fundraising mistakes, the DeSantis campaign has vowed never to repeat them.
According to the DeSantis campaign, fundraising has suffered because small-dollar contributors are tired of continuous appeals for money, a strategy that Trump and many other politicians across the political spectrum have embraced.
One such approach involves making “recurring donations” the default for online donations so that payments are automatically made monthly even though the donor thinks they are making a one-time gift. Donors had to “read a small print disclaimer and uncheck a box” to decline further contact.
The DeSantis team is banking that taking things more slowly would pay off in the long run and help Republicans close the funding gap with the Democrats.
