(RepublicanInformer.com)- According to Florida’s Division of Elections, Governor Ron DeSantis led the statewide Florida candidates in public matching funds.
The state’s public matching funds program was first established back when Democrats ran Florida, going so far as to enshrine the program into the Florida constitution.
Florida’s public matching funds program, which has been around for decades, is open to all candidates for governor and the three elected cabinet positions. DeSantis, who is outraising his opponents, pulled in $3.5 million in public matching funds, more than double what his two Democrat rivals have received.
Democrat challenger Charlie Crist got almost $965,000 in matching funds while his primary opponent, Twitter Candidate Nikki Fried received a little over $634,000.
During the 2018 election cycle, the state gave almost $10 million to statewide candidates through the public matching program, which has been described in the past as “welfare for politicians.”
Some previous Republican candidates, including former governors Jeb Bush and Rick Scott, refused to accept the public matching funds to finance their campaigns.
In Rick Scott’s case, he wasn’t eligible for the public matching funds because he was a self-funded candidate who poured millions into his campaign.
In 2010, the Republican-led state Legislature had repeatedly tried to scrap the program, but Florida voters rejected a bid to remove it from the Florida constitution.
But because the corporate news media despises Ron DeSantis, they are leaping on this news like hyenas as a way to portray the popular governor as a hypocrite who is scamming Florida taxpayers out of money for his campaign.
