The decision by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to end his presidential campaign came after days of conversations with donors and as his campaign and a trio of allied super PACs spent tens of millions of dollars organizing and advertising for his bid.
DeSantis and his wife, Casey, made the decision Sunday afternoon, surprising many of his rank-and-file staffers and supporters.
“The money wasn’t there to continue,” one top DeSantis donor told CNN.
According to AdImpact data, through Sunday, the DeSantis campaign and three super PACs formed to support him – Never Back Down, Fight Right and Good Fight – had spent more than $60 million on pro-DeSantis advertising.
Never Back Down, the first super PAC formed to support DeSantis’ White House bid, had faced criticism of its resource management, and went through significant staff turmoil.
That’s despite the fact that the super PAC initially received more than $80 million that DeSantis had amassed during his time as governor of Florida, a massive stockpile of funds that allowed the group to hit the ground running with lavish TV ads, a large staff and even to provide some campaign infrastructure.
Including that haul, Federal Election Commission records show that Never Back Down raised $130 million during the first half of 2023, and entered July of last year with nearly $100 million in cash on hand.
Meanwhile, the DeSantis campaign itself had raised more than $31 million through midyear, per FEC records, but a portion of those funds were available for use only in the general election. And the campaign entered the fourth quarter of last year facing a real cash crunch, with only $5 million in cash on hand for use in the presidential primary as of September 30. The campaign had not yet announced how much it raised in the fourth quarter of last year.
