Ron DeSantis in car crash as he heads to Tennessee fundraisers

Ron DeSantis was in a car accident on his way to a campaign event in Tennessee.

The Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate was unharmed in Tuesday morning’s incident.

“This morning the governor was in a car accident while traveling to an event in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He and his team are unharmed. We appreciate the nation’s prayers and well wishes for his continued protection during the campaign,” spokesman Bryan Griffin said in a statement.

Mr. DeSantis was scheduled to attend fundraisers in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville on Tuesday as his campaign has reportedly faltered in terms of both funding and poll numbers.

The accident occurred on I-75 South near the 2.8 mile marker, south of exit 153. according to news channel 9.

Chattanooga police told News Channel 9 that the accident was minor and as traffic slowed, four cars in the motorcade carrying Mr. DeSantis collided. According to the police, one of the employees was slightly injured. Mr. DeSantis and his staff continued their journey to the fundraisers.

The incident and Mr. DeSantis’s series of new fundraisers come amid reports that he had spent 40 percent of his campaign donations on private jets and fancy campaign meals.

His campaign advisers this weekend took the rare (and sometimes deadly) step of acknowledging mismanagement of Florida’s governor’s presidential bid, as he’s reportedly burning hard cash and has little to show for it.

The Florida governor’s top executives and advisers were in Utah on Sunday, where accordingly Politicallythey appeared before dozens of troubled campaign donors who expressed concern about the return on their investments and the general course of Mr. DeSantis’ bid for the White House.

The meeting comes at a time when the DeSantis campaign is drawing comparisons to the well-funded Jeb Bush campaign in 2016, the last attempt by a Florida Republican governor to win a GOP primary against Donald Trump.

Indeed, Mr. DeSantis has earned some of those comparisons as he remains far behind Mr. Trump in all available polls and now sees other Republican candidates in a much better position to dethrone him than usurp the mantle of the former President’s front-runner.

On Sunday, aides, including campaign manager Generra Peck, admitted that the governor had overdone donations in his bid, and particularly criticized the event planning team, which has seen a series of layoffs over the past week.

Accordingly The New York TimesThe DeSantis campaign has already directly spent 40 percent of the funds it raised in the first six weeks of its campaign — but that number doesn’t take into account the war chest, which is controlled by the Never Back Down PAC, the governor’s tool for external spending.

Increased spending that appears to have led to the recent staff reshuffle also included canceled retreats for donors and supporters.