Top GOP donor gives Scott a closer look while DeSantis' 2024 run 'hasn't taken off'

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Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott weighs in on a Georgia lawmaker leaving the Democratic Party for the GOP on 'Fox News Tonight.'

With six months to go until the first votes are cast in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, some of the biggest players in the GOP's donor class appear to be giving Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina a closer look.

Sources in Scott’s political orbit confirmed to Fox News that billionaire businessman Ronald Lauder flew to South Carolina recently to meet with the state’s junior senator and Republican presidential candidate.

Lauder, the Estée Lauder makeup heir who supported former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, discussed the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race with Scott as the senator outlined what he sees as his path to victory. 

The sources add that Scott and Lauder have held phone conversations since that initial meeting and may schedule another in-person conversation.

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Tim Scott announces his candidacy for president at Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, South Carolina, May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

The news, first reported by Politico, comes a day after Scott's team unveiled the first fundraising figures since launching the presidential campaign. 

Scott's campaign, which shared its fundraising figures first with Fox News on Wednesday, reported bringing in $6.1 million during the April-June second quarter, with the vast majority coming in the six weeks since the senator formally declared his candidacy on May 22. The only Black Republican in the Senate and a rising star in the GOP officially launched his presidential campaign at Charleston Southern University – his alma mater – in his hometown of North Charleston, South Carolina.

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Scott's team also touted that they ended the second quarter of 2023 fundraising with over $21 million cash-on-hand in their coffers.

"Just in the last 24 hours since we announced our numbers, we’ve seen both major donors and grassroots contributors increase their engagement and interest in joining the team," a source in Scott's political orbit told Fox News.

Sen. Tim Scott speaks with members of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women at an event at Saint Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics, on May 25, 2023, in Manchester. (Fox News )

Word of Lauder's interest in Scott comes amid a handful of stories from the campaign trail that some top dollar donors are starting to potentially sour on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the wake of a flurry of media reports suggesting his Republican presidential campaign is stalling less than two months after its launch. 

Trump, who's the commanding front-runner in the latest Republican presidential primary polls as he makes his third straight White House run, has seen his double-digit lead over DeSantis increase in recent months. But DeSantis remains in second place, ahead of Scott and the rest of the large field of 2024 contenders, who are polling in single digits.

A Republican consultant well-connected to the GOP donor class told Fox News that "people are anxious and a little disappointed that DeSantis hasn’t taken off."

But the consultant, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized that "we’ve got plenty of time before anyone votes in Iowa or New Hampshire. In so many ways, the campaign hasn’t started."

Iowa and New Hampshire hold the first two contests in the GOP nominating calendar.

"In so many ways, this is like two fighters at the weigh in. They haven’t gotten to the ring yet. We’ve got a long way to go," the consultant added, as he pointed to Trump and DeSantis.

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Another Republican strategist who's also well-connected with major contributors highlighted that donors "just really haven’t made up their minds yet… they’re all over the place."

The strategist, who also asked for anonymity, predicted that "as time goes on, they’ll start to make different decisions… They're not really settled on the right candidate yet. They’re still searching for the right horse to bet on."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis walks alongside his wife, Casey DeSantis, and son, Mason, while marching in the Wolfeboro Independence Day Parade in New Hampshire on July 4, 2023. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News Digital)

Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor and bundler, called recent stories on DeSantis' troubles "overblown."

"I think this is the media looking for a story," added Eberhart, who contributed $100,000 and raised half a million dollars for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign but who is now a DeSantis donor and bundler.

Eberhart emphasized that "the people who are with DeSantis I think like him as much as ever. I think people would like to see more movement in the polls, but also understand that this is a long game. Donors are very savvy and understanding that this is a long game."

"I would rather the governor be in first place, not second place. But I think he’s doing what he needs to do to come out on top," he added.

A confidential DeSantis campaign memo first reported by NBC News and also obtained by Fox News spells out what the Florida governor’s political team views as the path to the nomination. That includes a focus on the early voting states in the GOP presidential nominating calendar – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada – which will hold their caucuses and primaries in January and February, and not yet investing in the Super Tuesday states, which will hold their contests in early March of next year.

The memo, which was issued on July 6 to donors, notes that the campaign is refusing to give up on New Hampshire. That comes in the wake of a handful of media stories spotlighting that the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down is not running ads currently in New Hampshire while they are putting spots on TV in Iowa and South Carolina. But DeSantis spent July 4th in New Hampshire, as he marched in the Wolfeboro and Merrimack Independence Day parades. 

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"While Super Tuesday is critically important, we will not dedicate resources to Super Tuesday that slow our momentum in New Hampshire," the memo states. "We expect to revisit this investment in the Fall."

The memo also notes that part of the path to the nomination will also include spotlighting the Florida governor’s biography and raising questions about some of his rivals, including Scott.