Having just announced his presidential bid for 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will stop in six Texas cities in June as part of his “Great American Comeback” fundraising tour.

DeSantis will be in Texas for three days, from June 7-9. Each of his stops are hosted by “some of the most prolific donors in Texas GOP politics.”

DeSantis will begin his fundraising campaign in Houston. Several of the Houston hosts are well-known city business community members, including real-estate developers Alan Hassenflu and Richard Weekley, as well as Dr. Clive Fields, who previously donated $500,000 to DeSantis’ Florida political committee.

On his second day in Texas, the Florida governor will campaign in Fort Worth, Dallas, and Midland.

The Dallas hosts include Phillip Huffines, brother of former Texas gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines; Oklahoma oil tycoon Harold Hamm, who was a Trump supporter during both the 2016 and 2020 elections and donated $500,000 to the Trump campaign; and billionaire businessman Jay Adair, who donated $100,000 to Trump’s campaign in 2019, and Kenny Troutt, who donated $1.8 million to Trump’s re-election efforts in 2020.

Several oil industry names are included in the list of hosts for the Midland fundraiser, including Ernest Angelo, who previously donated to Trump Victory; Kyle Stallings, who donated $50,000 to Trump in 2019; Douglas Scharbauer, who also donated to Trump Victory; and Syed Javaid Anwar, the biggest donor to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott throughout his political career. Anwar previously contributed at least $620,000 in 2019 and 2020 to the Trump Victory Committee.

Anwar is also on the host committee for Nikki Haley, who will travel to Midland for her own presidential campaign fundraiser a day after DeSantis.

To end his trip, DeSantis will campaign in San Antonio and Austin. The hosts in these cities have yet to be announced.

Though DeSantis has big names supporting him, a poll from Defend Texas Liberty PAC showed that Trump is still the current favorite Republican presidential candidate for Texans.

Earlier this month, the poll revealed that 54 percent of polltakers said they would vote for Trump in a primary election. DeSantis was the next top candidate, but only 16 percent selected him instead. All other votes were either unsure or went to various other candidates, who received between 0 and 5 percent favorable votes each.

Ticket prices for the fundraiser range from $3,300 per person to $13,200 per couple. All funding from ticket sales will go toward both DeSantis’ primary and general election campaigns.

As of publication, the DeSantis campaign did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s request for comment.

Soli Rice

A journalist for Texas Scorecard, Soli is a new Texan with a passion for politics. She's excited to hone her writing skills and help spread truth to Texans.

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