It cost more than $160 million for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida to come in second in a single nominating contest.
That staggering sum makes Mr. DeSantis’ failed presidential bid among the most expensive in modern Republican primaries. But the details of where the money went, filed in filings with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, show just how freely Mr. DeSantis and his super PAC allies have been spending.
They directed at least $53 million through companies controlled or owned by Jeff Roe, the powerful Republican strategist who served as the top adviser to Never Back Down, Mr. DeSantis’ main super PAC.
They spent $31.3 million in TV advertising time.
They spent at least $3.3 million on private airfare between the campaign and Never Back Down.
And they donated about $110,000 to the campaigns of state and federal elected officials who had supported Mr. DeSantis.
All for 23,420 votes in Iowa.
Most of the money – $130 million – was spent by Never Back Down. The super PAC was supposed to be Mr. DeSantis’ secret weapon in his bid to unseat former President Donald J. Trump, including through an ambitious canvassing operation built to knock on the doors of DeSantis supporters up to five times. His campaign spent an additional $28 million.
The hugely expensive effort produced negligible results, and Mr. DeSantis decided to drop out before the New Hampshire primary and endorse Mr. Trump. But it tested the limits of campaign finance law.
Never Back Down has taken an unprecedented role in managing Mr. DeSantis’ campaign, even though campaigns and super PACs are not allowed to coordinate their strategies. Mr. DeSantis turned over many tasks traditionally overseen by campaign staff — such as organizing events and organizing get-out-the-vote efforts — to the outside team.
The awkward deal left key decisions in the hands of the PAC’s super leaders, rather than Mr. DeSantis’ inner circle of trusted advisers. Tensions between Never Back Down and the campaign caused flurries of negative news that sometimes overshadowed Mr. DeSantis’ candidacy, particularly among wealthy donors.
Representatives for the DeSantis campaign and Never Back Down did not respond to requests for comment. Neither does Mr. Roe.
Mr. DeSantis was not the only Republican candidate this cycle who spent huge sums just to drop out. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina entered the race with $22 million in campaign funds, carried over from his 2022 re-election bid. Within weeks, a super PAC supporting him had raised an additional $20 million.
But by the fall, Mr. Scott’s fundraising stream had dried up as enthusiasm for his candidacy waned, new federal records show. His groups spent big, with the campaign spending a total of more than $30 million and the super PAC taking in $21.8 million, including about $15 million in advertising.
The details of his spending are difficult to discern because large chunks of the money went to two limited liability companies with no other apparent business, based in suburban Staples stores.
In the end, Mr. Scott didn’t even make it to Iowa, dropping out in November.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy poured $25.6 million of his own money into his campaign, in loans and contributions, before dropping out of the race after finishing fourth in Iowa. At the end of December, his campaign had $1.5 million left. A super PAC supporting him raised $8.7 million and spent almost all of it.
Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, a wealthy businessman, loaned his campaign $14.8 million. the campaign spent $17.8 million before dropping out of the race in December. A super PAC supporting him raised $24.1 million and spent $24 million.
But Mr. DeSantis’ bid and its collapse stand out for their scale. Other than Mr. Trump, no other candidate entered the race with more financial backing, more advertising or higher poll numbers.
By the time Mr. DeSantis entered the race in late May, Never Back Down had a war chest of nearly $120 million, including more than $80 million left over from Mr. DeSantis’ re-election as Florida governor. In his first six weeks as a candidate, his campaign also raised more than $20 million. (Unlike campaigns, super PACs are allowed to accept unlimited amounts of money from donors, making them a vehicle for the super-rich to support candidates.)
Never Back Down planned a $100 million ground game to mobilize voters across the country, including a massive voter outreach push that would use paid doors to reach potential DeSantis voters in swing states. The group pledged to raise $200 million.
Warning signs soon appeared.
Mr. DeSantis insisted on flying in private jets, a habit he acquired during his time in Tallahassee — and one unsustainable for a candidate who was not independently wealthy.
The campaign overspent in its opening weeks, prompting a reshuffle and deep staff cuts in July. Never Back Down, which had also pumped in large sums of money, picked up much of the slack, records show, including footing the bill for Mr. DeSantis’ flights.
Mr. Roe was a central figure in the DeSantis candidacy, and the large amount he passed through his companies reflects his ambitions to run the nation’s largest political consulting firm. At times, he drew unwanted publicity on the campaign trail, while also being the target of derision from Mr. Trump’s surrogates. He left the super PAC in December as the group collapsed amid turmoil.
Never Back Down also quietly sent some of its money, $2.75 million, to Win It Back, a super PAC backed by the Club for Growth, a powerful conservative anti-tax group. Around the same time, Win It Back ran a series of anti-Trump ads. The contribution was not disclosed until after Mr. DeSantis left.
While Mr. DeSantis pulled his punches against Mr. Trump for much of the campaign, the donation demonstrated how super PACs can be used to do a candidate’s dirty work without leaving many fingerprints.
Win It Back eventually pulled the ads, saying it found they were unpopular with Republican voters — a sign of the apparent futility of challenging Mr. Trump in the GOP primaries.
Meanwhile, another of Mr. DeSantis’ commissions was used to show his apparent gratitude to several politicians who had endorsed him at the risk of incurring Mr. Trump’s ire. The group, Great American Comeback, has donated more than $110,000 to those officials, including $6,600 to Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who has butted heads with Mr. DeSantis mercilessly in the final weeks of the campaign. More than a dozen Iowa state legislators also received contributions.
Through it all, Mr. DeSantis’ fundraising slowed as his poll numbers plummeted and his shaky moments as a candidate piled up. While Mr. DeSantis had entered the race as the favorite of many conservative donors hoping to get rid of Mr. Trump, the Florida governor saw much of that support trickle away, first to Mr. Scott and then to former Gov. Nikki Haley of the South. Carolina, who remains in the competition.
Mr. DeSantis’ campaign raised less and less money each quarter of 2023. Never Back Down raised just $14.5 million in the second half of the year.
Allies of Mr. DeSantis jumped in to help, starting their own super PACs set up with money from Never Back Down. The formation of the new groups, Fight Right and Good Fight, led to tensions in Never Back Down, where many top officials resigned or were fired.
Fight Right and Good Fight took on TV advertising, while Never Back Down focused on get-out-the-vote features, a move publicly encouraged by the DeSantis campaign.
The two new super PACs spent $13.8 million on television ads in Iowa. Much of their money came from transfers from Never Back Down and the Great American Comeback, while only a fraction came from donors, mostly wealthy Floridians loyal to Mr. DeSantis, as well as CDR Enterprises, a major state contractor.
By the end of 2023, Never Back Down had spent every penny of the $120 million in its coffers when Mr. DeSantis launched his candidacy, and then some.
Three weeks later, Mr. DeSantis was out of the running.
