Here's How Much Money Ron DeSantis Burned Against Trump

It cost Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida more than $160 million to come in second place in a single nominating contest.

That astonishing sum makes Mr. DeSantis' failed presidential bid one of the most expensive in the modern Republican primary. But the details of where the money went, filed Wednesday in filings with the Federal Election Commission, show just how generous Mr. DeSantis and his allied super PACs were.

They routed at least $53 million through companies controlled or owned by Jeff Roe, the powerful Republican strategist who was the top adviser to Never Back Down, Mr. DeSantis' main super PAC.

They spent $31.3 million on television advertising.

They spent at least $3.3 million on private flights between the campaign and Never Back Down.

And they donated roughly $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 said to be Mr. DeSantis' secret weapon in his quest to take down former President Donald J. Trump, including through an ambitious recruitment operation built to knock on the doors of DeSantis supporters as many as five times to knock. His campaign spent another $28 million.

The hugely costly effort yielded negligible results, and Mr. DeSantis decided to quit before the New Hampshire primary and endorse Mr. Trump. But it did test the limits of campaign finance law.

Never Back Down played an unprecedented role in leading Mr. DeSantis' campaign, even though campaigns and super PACs are not allowed to coordinate their strategies. Mr. DeSantis transferred many tasks traditionally overseen by campaign officials — such as organizing events and organizing votes — to the outside group.

The tricky arrangement left key decisions in the hands of super PAC leaders, rather than Mr. DeSantis' close circle of trusted advisers. The tensions between Never Back Down and the campaign created a wave of negative news stories that at times overshadowed Mr. DeSantis' candidacy, especially 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 to spend big and then drop out. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott entered the race with $22 million in his campaign coffers, carried over from his 2022 re-election bid. Within weeks, a super PAC backing him had raised another $20 million.

But by the fall, Mr. Scott's fundraising flow dried up as enthusiasm for his candidacy waned, new federal documents show. His groups spent heavily, with the campaign spending more than $30 million in total and the super PAC spending $21.8 million, including about $15 million on ads.

Details of his spending are difficult to discern because large chunks of the money went to two limited liability companies that had no other apparent operations, based in Staples stores in the suburbs.

Ultimately, Mr. Scott didn't even make it to Iowa and dropped out in November.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy poured $25.6 million of his own money into his campaign, in the form of loans and contributions, before quitting the race after finishing in fourth place in Iowa. By the end of December, his campaign had $1.5 million left. A super PAC backing him raised $8.7 million and spent almost the entire amount.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, a wealthy businessman, lent his campaign $14.8 million; the campaign spent $17.8 million before dropping out of the race in December. A super PAC backing him raised $24.1 million and spent $24 million.

But Mr. DeSantis' bid and its collapse are notable for their magnitude. Aside from Mr. Trump, no other candidate entered the race with more financial support, more hype 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's 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, becoming a means for the ultra-wealthy to support candidates.)

Never Back Down planned a $100 million ground game to mobilize voters across the country, including a massive voter campaign that would deploy paid door knockers to reach likely DeSantis voters in early candidate states. The group pledged to raise $200 million.

Warning signs soon emerged.

Mr. DeSantis insisted on flying on private planes, a habit he picked up during his time in Tallahassee — and an unsustainable habit for a candidate who was not independently wealthy.

The campaign spent its opening weeks stretched beyond its means, prompting a reshuffle and major staff cuts in July. Never Back Down, which had also spent large sums of money, picked up much of the slack, the records show, including footing the bill for Mr. DeSantis' flights.

Mr. Roe was a central figure in DeSantis' candidacy, and the large sum of money passed through his companies reflects his ambitions to run the nation's largest political consulting firm. At times he attracted unwanted publicity for the campaign, and he was also the target of ridicule by Trump's surrogates. He left the super PAC in December, as the group collapsed in 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, an influential conservative anti-tax group. Around the same time, Win It Back published a series of anti-Trump ads. The contribution was not disclosed until after Mr. DeSantis quit.

While Mr. DeSantis took his jabs at Mr. Trump for much of the campaign, the donation illustrated 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 they were unpopular with Republican voters — a sign of the apparent futility of challenging Trump in a Republican Party primary.

Meanwhile, another of Mr. DeSantis' commissions was used to show his apparent gratitude to several politicians who had supported him at the risk of drawing Mr. Trump's ire. The group, Great American Comeback, donated more than $110,000 to these officials, including $6,600 to Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who relentlessly harassed Mr. DeSantis in the final weeks of the campaign. More than a dozen Iowa state lawmakers also received contributions.

All this has caused Mr. DeSantis' fundraising to decline, while his poll numbers have plummeted and his shaky moments as a candidate have piled up. While Mr. DeSantis had entered the race as the darling of many conservative donors hoping to leave Mr. Trump behind, the Florida governor saw much of that support leak away, first to Mr. Scott and then to the former governor Nikki Haley of South Africa. Carolina, who stays in the game.

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 seeded with money from Never Back Down. The formation of the new groups Fight Right and Good Fight led to tensions at Never Back Down, where many top executives resigned or were fired.

Fight Right and Good Fight took over television advertising, while Never Back Down focused on voting efforts, a move publicly encouraged by the DeSantis campaign.

The two new super PACs spent $13.8 million on television advertising in Iowa. Much of their money came from transfers from Never Back Down and 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 cent of the $120 million it had in its coffers when Mr. DeSantis began his candidacy, and then some.

Three weeks later, Mr. DeSantis was out of the race.