DeSantis raised $8 million his first 24 hours as candidate

The Florida governor's campaign raised $8.2 million on his first day as a GOP primary candidate. This was reported last Thursday by DeSantis' team, as reported by several media outlets.

DeSantis' team celebrated the figure by linking it to the audience of more than 700,000 users who watched the unusual launch of the campaign on Twitter Spaces. The high number of attendees caused the servers to collapse and the connection was interrupted for half an hour. "In the last 24 hours DeSantis broke Twitter [and] broke a fundraising record for a non-incumbent presidential candidate," Team DeSantis tweeted. "What do you want him to break next?"

The collection includes both online contributions and those secured by members of its funding team, according to the New York Times. The latter gathered donations Thursday at the Four Seasons in Miami for a fundraiser called "Ron-O-Rama," as reported by Buisiness Insider.

With this amount, DeSantis is likely to far surpass the $9.5 million raised by Donald Trump in his first six weeks as a candidate. This would be another argument for the governor to position himself as a leading contender in a race led by former-President Trump, and perhaps even beat him.

Beyond the primaries

DeSantis is looking beyond Donald Trump. Some of the money raised will be set aside for the general election, the governor's staff told the NYT, although they did not say how much.

The more than $8 million received by the Floridian also surpasses the $6.3 million obtained in the first 24 hours of Joe Biden's candidacy in the elections that resulted with him as president.

First days of campaigning

This Thursday, the governor announced plans for his first tour as a candidate, according to the AP. In total, it will make at least 12 stops in three states.

The tour will begin Tuesday in Iowa, and he will also stay there through Wednesday. On Thursday, he will travel to New Hampshire. The tour will end on Friday in South Carolina.