Ron DeSantis' 'Never Back Down' PAC backs down in Nevada

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' super PAC, called "Never Back Down," has given up in Nevada which will hold its primary on Feb. 8, 2024, reported NBC News.

DeSantis, who launched his presidential campaign at the end of May, had door-knocking operations being paid for by the PAC in Nevada, North Carolina, California and Texas. All of those efforts have ceased operation, officials confirmed Wednesday.

DeSantis' campaign has been hemorrhaging money, launching what seemed like a national campaign on day one with 250 field staffers at its peak. Most presidential campaigns focus on the early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

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After spreading money around to a dozen states, the PAC representatives told NBC that they decided it was time to invest in the early states.

"We want to reinvest in the first three," said Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for the super PAC, referring to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – though Nevada is actually scheduled before South Carolina's. "We see real opportunities in the first three. The first three are going to set the conditions for the March states."

PAC officials told NBC pulling out of Nevada and California was influenced by what they consider to be efforts to tilt those primaries in Trump's favor

In one case demonstrating DeSantis' financial struggles, a DeSantis donor spoke with Rolling Stone, fuming about the candidate pouring money into things like memes for social media. Memes are images that are designed to be sharable online to help promote the campaign.

"If they keep blowing money on f---ing memes, I’m out," the major GOP donor said, demanding DeSantis "better deliver the greatest debate performance in the world or... I can promise you, a lot of people won’t be giving Ron another nickel.”

NBC characterized it as a "rough summer" for the Florida Republican. "In recent weeks, DeSantis’ campaign has publicly promoted resets and staff shake-ups as he seeks to generate momentum."

In another expensive expenditure, the campaign spent $95,000 to court a conservative religious leader and evangelical activist Bob Vander Plaats, chief executive of the Family Leader. The funds were listed on campaign finance reports showing they donated to the religious leader's nonprofit.

While some polls showed DeSantis fared well in the first GOP debate, big donors felt "meh" about him, another Rolling Stone report explained. One said that they were simply waiting for him to "completely implode."

PAC officials are spinning the withdrawal by blaming Donald Trump, saying he tilted the primary rules in his favor and it makes it more difficult for anyone else to beat him. After Democrats changed their system from caucuses to primaries, the Nevada legislature moved both parties to that effort. The state GOP went to court protesting it, but lost.

Another barrier, Perrine claimed, is the state's Republican chairman, Michael McDonald, who she said is a "Trump puppet" who is "conducting that caucus/primary, primary/caucus routine that he’s doing."

"When you have that kind of uncertainty about how the election’s going to be conducted, that becomes a pretty unstable environment to be investing the kind of resources that we’re investing," she said.

McDonald attacked the claim as an "off-the-wall comment."

"Calling me a puppet — that's just someone who doesn't know the situation in Nevada," McDonald explained.

Read the full report at NBC News.