DeSantis is first to reserve airtime through Iowa caucuses with $2 million ad buy

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) became the first candidate in the Republican 2024 race to reserve airtime in Iowa through the Jan. 15 presidential caucuses, cementing reports of the campaign’s eagle-eyed focus on the first-in-the-nation caucus state and the campaign’s intention to keep going despite financial and polling hurdles.

The Florida governor’s campaign made a $2 million ad purchase in the Hawkeye state, which will begin airing in mid-November and continue through caucus night.

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“We are in this for the long haul, and this media buy is another demonstration to early-state voters that we are going to aggressively work to earn their support,” his campaign manager James Uthmeier told NBC News, which first reported on the ad buy.

The airtime reservation is evidence of DeSantis’s leaning into the Iowa battle. According to deputy campaign manager David Polyansky, their “aim isn’t to compete with the former president on a press release about finances or argue about a non-existent national primary. Rather, our goal has always been to put him on the defensive in Iowa.”

And with an aggressive approach to the state, as the days count down to the caucuses, the campaign is confident it can succeed in that. To some extent, they feel like they already have, as former President Donald Trump has made a recent effort to increase his presence in Iowa, planning several campaign events throughout October.

“This is just the start. We’re playing to win in Iowa, then on to New Hampshire, and we will have the resources needed to get the job done,” he said.

“There is no doubt that the Trump side will continue to add on to the millions of dollars they have already wasted on false attacks against Ron DeSantis in Iowa,” Polyansky added. “Their actions signal what we all know — that it is either Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump in Iowa … and for the nomination.”

The $2 million expense may come as a surprise to some, as the DeSantis campaign only had $5 million cash on hand available for spending during the primary. This would make the purchase 40% of his available cash.

In the third quarter of 2023, DeSantis’s team posted a haul of $15 million, with $13.5 million in cash on hand. This satisfied some previous concerns over the campaign’s finances, but others remain, given the relatively small amount that can be spent during the primary race.

But campaign officials claimed they raised $1 million more in the two days following the announcement of the third quarter sum. The new fundraising momentum and ad buy are examples of a campaign turnaround, according to his team.

“Now we’ve proven our ability to regroup, raise the resources we need, and build the organization prepared to compete to win in Iowa and then take the fight straight to New Hampshire and beyond,” Uthmeier said.

As for the content of the campaign’s Iowa ad, it will differ from those produced by the super PAC supporting DeSantis’s White House bid, Never Back Down. The campaign’s ad will feel more personal and feature DeSantis speaking to voters directly. The spot produced by a non-outside entity will introduce voters to the governor from a closer vantage point, as is the ability of a campaign to do. Advisers for his campaign are betting on the ad buy to highlight the significant legwork DeSantis has been doing in Iowa, where he has committed to completing the “full Grassley” by visiting each of its 99 counties. He has already surpassed the halfway mark of the challenge.

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DeSantis’s focus on Iowa has shown some early signs of paying off, with his statewide polling stature being better than his national one. Further, a footprint metric invented by a prominent Iowa pollster recently showed the Florida Republican nearly neck and neck with Trump when it comes to levels of consideration voters are giving the two men ahead of the caucuses.

The momentum for DeSantis in Iowa may have been what prompted the Trump campaign to noticeably increase its presence in the state after a relatively slow start on the 2024 trail.