Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis‘ 2024 presidential bid, has been putting the Florida governor in headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks.
The grassroots political group, which The New York Times suggests has effectively taken over DeSantis’ presidential campaign, has provided bad press at a time when the Republican is in desperate need of a major boost in his White House bid.
DeSantis has failed to gain any momentum during for his 2024 campaign since it officially launched in May, and has been met with a series of controversies, errors and polling numbers that are failing to dent the enormous lead by the GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump.
The most recent example of Never Back Down’s potential hindrance to DeSantis’ campaign is the leaking of audio clips from key figures at the super PAC suggesting that they need tens of millions of dollars in the next few months.
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“Now let me tell you a secret—don’t leak this,” Never Back Down strategist Jeff Roe told a meeting of the donors just before DeSantis took part in the first televised GOP primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 23, according to a recording obtained by The New York Times. “We need to do this now. We’re making a move now.
“The day after Labor Day, we’re launching and we need your help to stay up and go hard the rest of the way. We need 50 million bucks.”
In a separate leaked audio, obtained by CNN, Never Back Down CEO Chris Jankowski told a group of donors that they need donors’ help in getting $50 million by the end of the year, and $100 million more by the end of March 2024.
“I’m not worried about the second 50. We need the first 50,” Jankowski reportedly added.
Never Back Down and DeSantis’ team have been contacted via email for comment.
The request for a quick boost of fundraising money arrived as other reports indicating that Never Back Down is pinning DeSantis’ hopes on the three key early primary voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
According to NBC, Never Back Down will cease knocking on people’s doors in four major delegate states to try to get people to back DeSantis in the primary.
Of the states, three will see Republican voters choose their candidate for the 2024 presidential election on so-called Super Tuesday on March 5, 2024—California, North Carolina and Texas—while Nevada goes to the polls in June 2024.
“We want to reinvest in the first three,” Erin Perrine, spokesperson for the Never Back Down, told NBC News, in reference to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. “We see real opportunities in the first three. The first three are going to set the conditions for the March states.”
A memo from Never Back Down suggested how DeSantis should act during the first GOP primary debate was leaked to the media.
The memo said that DeSantis should “take a sledgehammer” to Vivek Ramaswamy—who has overtaken DeSantis for second place in some recent GOP primary polls and overshadowed the Florida governor on the debate state
The memo also called on DeSantis to defend Donald Trump when fellow 2024 hopeful and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie confronts the former president as expected.
During the debate, DeSantis was one of six 2024 Republican hopefuls who raised their hands to confirm they would still support Trump as the party’s presidential nominee even if the former president is convicted of a crime.
DeSantis went on to denounce the Never Back Down memo in an August 17 interviewwith Fox News: “On the memo, it’s not mine. I haven’t read it. It’s just something that we have and put off to the side.”
Steve Cortes, the national spokesperson for Never Back Down, admitted in a live Twitter Space on July 2 that DeSantis is already facing an uphill battle to defeat Trump for the nomination.
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