But those fundraising juggernauts, unlike Mr DeSantis, relied heavily on small-dollar donors—individuals who pledge less than $200 to a campaign. These contributions matter not only because they help line campaign coffers, but because smaller donations from more people suggest greater enthusiasm for the candidate. During the second quarter of 2019, 70% of Mr Sanders’s fundraising came from small-dollar donors compared with Mr DeSantis’s 14% during the same period this year.

A reliance on big-dollar donors can be hard to sustain. Fewer people have lots of money to give and campaign-finance law caps individual contributions at $3,300 per candidate per election. Nearly 70% of donors to the DeSantis campaign have already reached this limit for the primaries. Mr DeSantis can use future donations from these individuals (up to an extra $3,300) only on his general-election campaign, should he make it that far. But some of his big-dollar donors have already hit both caps: $3m of his remaining $12.2m funds are reserved for the general election.

Under his campaign’s current weekly spending rate ($1.5m) Mr DeSantis will need to raise around $33m during the remainder of 2023 if he hopes to reach the Iowa caucus with cash in hand. His campaign has already laid off some staffers in order to rein in spending.

The next few weeks could bring the DeSantis campaign worse news still. Though Mr Trump’s FEC filings report fundraising of $17.7m, the former president claims he has raised $35m in the second quarter, 75% more than Mr DeSantis. Because Mr Trump relies on a fundraising committee with different reporting deadlines the true number won’t be revealed until the end of July.