However he has more and more begun to draw the eye of the DeSantis marketing campaign. In a memo to donors this month, the DeSantis crew mentioned it anticipated Mr. Scott to obtain “acceptable scrutiny within the weeks forward.”
The timing of the advert reservation — days after the tremendous PAC mentioned it had solely $15 million in money available on the finish of June — suggests a significant donor almost definitely contributed an enormous sum in latest days. The timing will permit the donor’s identification to stay undisclosed till early 2024.
For years, one in every of Mr. Scott’s greatest benefactors has been Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle. Mr. Ellison had already put $35 million into a unique Scott-aligned tremendous PAC, the Alternative Issues Fund, between 2020 and 2022. A spokeswoman for Mr. Ellison didn’t reply to a request for touch upon any pro-Scott contributions he could have made this yr.
Mr. Ellison attended Mr. Scott’s presidential kickoff occasion in Could and acquired a shout-out from the senator onstage. “I thank God Almighty that he continues to supply me with actually cool mentors,” Mr. Scott mentioned. “One in every of my mentors, Larry Ellison, is with us as we speak, and I’m so grateful to have so many alternative mentors in the home.”
Rob Collins, a Republican strategist who’s the co-chair of Belief within the Mission PAC, mentioned that Mr. Scott’s private historical past — “Our household went from cotton to Congress in a single lifetime,” Mr. Scott declared in his 2020 conference speech — would resonate with Republican main voters.