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Hey, Look! There's At Least One Metric Where Ron DeSantis Is Beating Donald Trump

Lawyers are supporting one of their own.

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Donald Trump Holds A “Welcome Home” Rally In South Florida

(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign may increasingly seem like a losing one, but there’s one way he’s kicking frontrunner Donald Trump’s ass. No, it’s not (just) avoiding indictments. It’s DeSantis’s donations, well, at least when it comes to attorneys.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, in campaign donations from lawyers, DeSantis has a 6-to-1 advantage — $1.3+ million compared with >$200,000. Perhaps that isn’t surprising. DeSantis is a Harvard Law-educated lawyer, and a Federalist Society member to boot.

Plus, you know, Trump has a habit of shitting all over the legal norms lawyers are supposed to uphold.

“Trump is clearly at this stage antagonistic to a lot of the traditional legal norms, so that presents problems,” said Mark Braden, former chief counsel for the Republican National Committee. “Many of the larger law firms would be uncomfortable in supporting him and that flows down to the partners.”

And while DeSantis may not have a lot of momentum, he may be the best option for never-Trumpers:

“The thinking among a lot of Republican lawyers is that DeSantis is the best shot at Trump not being the nominee,” said a Washington-based law firm partner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “There’s a pretty clear-eyed sense that this is going to be hard.”

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There are a wide variety of lawyers on DeSantis’s donor rolls. Notably, he took in $129,300 from Sullivan & Cromwell attorneys, the most from any single employer.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.

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