Ron DeSantis is the biggest 2024 spender so far as all candidates have splurged $250M combined on 340,000 TV ads, most of them in Iowa

Ron DeSantis is the biggest spender in 2024, even surpassing former President Donald Trump with $9 million and President Joe Biden with $2 million.

Florida’s governor has focused on Iowa, spending nearly half of his total $46 million on television, digital and radio ads to convince Republicans in the nation’s first primary state to stand up for him.

Candidates and the Political Action Committees (PACs) that support them have already spent more than $250 million on advertising so far, with a year to go until the election. This is evident from an analysis by the Financial Timesincluding money from candidates who were already out of the running.

A large majority of the spending was focused on Iowa ahead of the Jan. 15 caucuses.

So far, all candidates combined have pumped $84.23 million into the Hawkeye State.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the PACs backing him have spent the most, spending much of $20.6 million on their ad buys in the nation’s first primary state of Iowa.

The next highest state spending is $47.61 million in New Hampshire, which is hosting the second caucuses and the first elections of the primary season, followed by spending in South Carolina, where candidates spent just $6.6 million.

More than half of the spending in South Carolina, where the fourth primary will take place in February, was made by DeSantis and the PACs supporting him, as they have already transferred $3.7 million there.

While Georgia is not an early primary state, it is a key state for securing the nomination and general election victory. So far, candidates have spent $6.07 million there — even though the Peach State primary isn’t until May 21, 2024.

DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are often tied for second place in Iowa — a significant distance behind front-runner Trump.

But Haley’s $16.4 million in spending in Iowa pales in comparison to DeSantis’ $20.6 million in the state.

While Florida’s governor has spent the most of anyone in the 2024 race, President Biden is in second place with ad spending of $44 million and Trump is in third place with $37 million.

Haley came in fourth with $32 million and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott with $24 million before dropping out of the race after the third Republican primary debate in Miami, Florida earlier this month.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, a billionaire, has spent $20 million on TV, radio and digital advertising.

After that, expenditure on the other candidates drops sharply.

President Joe Biden (right) comes in second with the highest campaign spending, with $44 million on TV, digital and radio ads to date. Donald Trump is in third place with $37 million in ad spending

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who served under Trump, is tied with DeSantis in the polls, but has spent far less with a total of $32 million

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, despite being a millionaire, has spent just $8 million on ads, even though he consistently ranks among the top four Republican candidates along with Trump, DeSantis and Haley.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has spent just $4 million, which is likely a result of the fact that he has focused almost no part of his campaign on appealing to voters in Iowa – and since launching his bid, he has not once set foot in the state.

It’s no surprise that Republican spending far exceeds Democratic spending, as Biden is almost certainly the nominee on his side, while the Republican Party has a competitive primary — though not too competitive with Trump with a large lead.