DeSantis Crushes Obama, Trump in Opening Week Book Sales, Continues to Top Bestseller Charts
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new book has blown away the competition, beating out Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s records for pre-presidential announcement book sales–and it isn’t even close. DeSantis is on tour promoting The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, an outing that will take him to several early Republican primary states. Since the book’s release on Feb. 28, it has sold nearly 100,000 copies.
A DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign would make The Courage to be Free the best-selling pre-announcement book of all time. Its closest competitor would be Barack Obama’s 2006 book The Audacity of Hope, which sold 66,766 copies in the first week of its release. Donald Trump- expected to receive a challenge from the governor for next year’s nomination- netted just 27,686 sales from his 2016 book Great Again. Based on BookScan figures published by Daily Mail, DeSantis’ new book sold 94,284 copies within its first week.
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2016 candidate Ben Carson and potential 2024 candidate Mike Pence netted nearly 38,000 sales with pre-announcement book releases.
In addition to topping pre-presidential book sales, The Courage to be Free continues to sit at the top spot of the New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller list, well into the second week of its release. On Wednesday, the governor’s staff passed out copies of the book to the nearly 1,000 supporters at a Clearwater, Florida, rally.
On Sunday, Governor DeSantis visited the Reagan Library in California to promote his book and tout his successes in Florida as a model for the United States.
“You’ve seen massive gains in states like Florida, who are governed according to the driving principles that President Reagan held dear.”
It is widely expected that the Florida Blueprint will become a campaign platform for a 2024 White House bid. DeSantis’ recent book tour and his previous visits to New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania have helped build a national profile for the governor.
“We defied the experts. We bucked the elites. We ignored the chatter. We did it our way, the Florida way,” DeSantis told lawmakers Tuesday in his State of the State Address. “And the result is that we are the number one destination for our fellow Americans who are looking for a better life.”
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While Trump continues to dominate in national polling, DeSantis is the only Republican making inroads against the former president. In a recent University of North Florida poll, Florida Republican primary voters preferred DeSantis over Trump by two-to-one margins. The governor’s book tour is also expected to take him to Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire in the coming weeks– the three earliest Republican primary states.
DeSantis will appear in Davenport and Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday, but he won’t be the only Republican touring the leading primary state. Nikki Haley is expected to wrap up a state tour this weekend– her second visit as a 2024 candidate since her announcement in February. Donald Trump is also set to make an appearance in Davenport on Monday.
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