EXCLUSIVE: Ron DeSantis’ book BEATS Obama, Pence and Trump for most copies by a contender sold in the first week – as more fans flock to his signings and wait for his 2024 announcement
- Ron DeSantis sold 94,284 copies of his memoir in the first week of release
- To date, the most copies sold by any potential presidential contender in recent history
- Barack Obama is in 2nd, Mike Pence in 4th and Trump in 6th with his 2016 book
Ron DeSantis’ book sales are adding to his national recognition after he sold more copies of his new memoir in the first week it hit shelves than those released by Barack Obama and Donald Trump before their bids for office.
Figures from BookScan shared with DailyMail.com before their public release reveal that DeSantis sold 94,284 copies of The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival in the seven days after its publishing on February 28.
The closest second for pre-presidential announcement books is more than 27,500 behind in sales to DeSantis.
Obama’s 2006 book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream came in at 66,766 purchases in the first week of sales.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has topped the charts of first-week sales for a book released by a future presidential candidate before officially announcing a run. Pictured: DeSantis hold up his memoir at the latest book tour stop in Clearwater, Florida
The stops on DeSantis’ book tour are more reminiscent of presidential campaign rallies. Pictured: DeSantis signs books and takes selfies with attendees at his event in Clearwater, Florida on Wednesday, March 8, 2023
DeSantis is currently on tour promoting his book – but many see the campaign-like events as a precursor to a presidential bid announcement.
Several polls show that he is currently the most likely candidate to be able to beat Trump in a 2024 primary election. And many of these surveys show him besting the former president in a hypothetical head-to-head.
Trump’s pre-announcement book Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America, published in 2016, brought in just 27,686 sales in the first week after its release.
The former president’s book comes in sixth place compared to first-week sales of other politicians who wrote books before announcing their bid for the White House.
He fell behind both former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Unsurprisingly, their books earned immense traction considering they were released after January 6, 2021, Capitol attack and following Trump’s 2020 presidential loss.
In Clearwater, Florida on Wednesday, DeSantis’ staff handed out books to attendees at a rally-like gathering of at least 1,000 supporters who came out to a country line-dancing and live music venue to listen to the governor speak.
Following his remarks, the governor stuck around to take selfies with attendees and sign their copies of his book.
The book tour also took DeSantis to California’s Reagan Library on Sunday and will continue onto Iowa and Nevada – both early primary contest states – this week and weekend.
Staff handed out copies of DeSantis’ book The Courage to be Free ahead of his remarks to a crowd of about 1,000 supporters
Barack Obama’s 2006 book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream earned 66,766 purchases in the first week of sales – coming in second place in sales for a future presidential candidate but trailing 27,500 behind DeSantis’ sales
A supporter holds a book written by former Vice President Mike Pence during a parents’ rights rally. Pence’s book ranked 4th place
Former President Donald Trump (left) and former HUD Secretary Ben Carson (right) both wrote memoirs. Carson’s book ranked at third while Trump’s 2016 book ranked 6th place
The Florida blueprint is what DeSantis is using to lay out a potential presidential candidate platform. He claims how he has governed the Sunshine State should be applied nationwide and to other states.
The third highest first-week sales pre-presidential run books, surprisingly, comes from Ben Carson, whose book, A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties sold 37,924 copies in the first week.
Carson went on to serve as Trump’s Housing and Urban Development Secretary after earning little traction in the 2016 Republican primary campaign.
In fourth place for book sales is former Vice President Mike Pence. He reached nearly 37,600 sales of his 2022 book So Help Me God. It’s not shocking that Pence’s sales were in the top five of potential presidential hopefuls considering he was No. 2 to one of the most controversial presidents in U.S. history.
