A new report revealed that Never Back Down, the SuperPAC that supported the failed Ron DeSantis campaign, spent $9,000 of donor money on customized zip-up jackets.
Expenditures like expensive, customized jackets became the norm for Never Back Down — partly explaining why the SuperPAC sustained such a high burn rate of donor cash throughout the early Republican primary contest. From the start of the DeSantis campaign in the spring of 2023 to its implosion after the Iowa Republican Caucus earlier this month, Never Back Down blew through a staggering $131 million. On the other hand, the DeSantis campaign committee raised far less, resulting in a total spend of just $28.2 million. For comparison, former President Donald Trump’s campaign committee raised just shy of $20 million in the 4th Quarter of 2023 alone.
Pitfalls Of A Campaign Run Through the SuperPAC
Weak fundraising forced the DeSantis campaign early on to rely on the Never Back Down SuperPAC to run many operations that the campaign committee would typically handle. The SuperPAC took on not just ad spending — typical for such an entity — but funded ground-game operations in several states to the tune of $23 million.
The $131 million spent by Never Back Down was partly sourced from money DeSantis raised during his 2022 gubernatorial re-election campaign in Florida. As previously reported by The National Pulse, at the start of his presidential campaign, DeSantis transferred $82.5 million from his gubernatorial campaign PAC to Never Back Down. At least $21 million in funds supplied to DeSantis’s 2022 re-election by the Republican Governor’s Association may have ended up in Never Back Down’s accounts.
When all was said and done, the DeSantis campaign spent $1,697.96 per vote to come in a distant second in Iowa with just 21.2 percent of the vote. Former President Donald Trump captured 51 percent in his historic win.
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