Governor of Florida and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination Ron DeSantis is now a millionaire, thanks in large part to an advance he collected for writing the book "The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival." Recent financial disclosures made by DeSantis show him taking home $1.25 million out of the book's heft $2 million advance, enough to triple his net worth from before the contract for the book was signed.
$2 million is pretty good advance in the publishing world no matter who you are, but it's an especially impressive number for DeSantis, who before last year was one of the few high-profile politicians with a net worth of just $320,000. With the book, his net worth boomed to just over $1 million.
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While DeSantis hasn't made the kind of big paydays that some politicians do in the legal or business fields before they reach higher office, the WSJ story points out that he's made it a practice to brush elbows with the ultra-wealthy as often as possible in his political career:
"He has long courted ultrarich donors, dating to his time in Congress, some of whom have lent him use of their private jets, at times drawing media scrutiny. An avid golfer, he has married fundraising and schmoozing with donors with rounds at top courses and exclusive locations."
One of the claims DeSantis makes in his book is that when he graduated Yale, he had a lot less to his name than many of his rich classmates, with just $101.24 in his bank account.
DeSantis may be in the millionaire's club now, but his net worth is far less than that of the leading Republican presidential candidate, billionaire former President Donald Trump, who has a net worth of $2 billion.
