DeSantis-aligned super PAC cancels $2.5M in Iowa, New Hampshire ad buys
A super PAC aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is canceling $2.5 million in 2024 ad buys in key early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire, according to the political advertising tracker AdImpact.
Never Back Down, which has recently seen several senior officials depart, is pulling the multimillion-dollar ad buys just weeks before the start of the first-in-the-nation nominating contest in the Hawkeye State as GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump leads DeSantis by more than 30 percentage points.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has also surged to within striking distance of the Florida governor in Iowa surveys and is beating DeSantis by double digits in New Hampshire, the RealClearPolitics polling aggregator shows.
“Never Back Down is laser focused on its core mission — running the most advanced grassroots and political caucus operation in this race and helping deliver the GOP nomination for Governor DeSantis who will deliver America from the disastrous policies of the Left,” the super PAC said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to have Fight Right and others covering the air for Governor DeSantis while we work the ground game in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond.”
A representative for Fight Right told The Post that the group was “leading the charge on TV advertising to inform voters about the candidates in the race” … while Never Back Down “has been focusing on the historical ground game.”
“Safe to say we’re the air force to their army,” the rep said, adding that the group was placing an ad buy of more than $2.5 million before the Iowa caucuses, $1.3 million of which would go toward cable and broadcast airtime in the Hawkeye State.
Former Never Back Down CEO Chris Jankowski resigned from the super PAC in November, the New York Times reported, following a series of leaks to the press about infighting and disagreements over strategies to fix DeSantis’ flagging poll numbers.
Adam Laxalt, Nevada’s former attorney general who unsuccessfully ran for the US Senate last year, stepped down as chairman of Never Back Down four days after Jankowski’s departure, a source also confirmed to The Post.
In mid-December, Never Back Down’s chief strategist Jeff Roe, the founder of the GOP consulting firm Axiom Strategies, also announced his resignation, pointing to “mismanagement and conduct issues” that led to the firings of three other top officials at the super PAC.
“I cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down given the statements in the Washington Post today,” Roe said in a statement posted on X.
“They are not true and an unwanted distraction at a critical time for Governor DeSantis,” Roe added, echoing the previous statements of Jankowski and Laxalt that he hoped the Florida governor would still win the presidency.
NBC News previously reported that at the start of the disagreements, one DeSantis confidante, Scott Wagner, had to be physically restrained during a heated argument with Roe about the super PAC’s budgeting and tactics to respond to Haley’s rise in the polls.
“You have a stick up your a–, Scott,” Roe reportedly thundered at Wagner, who sits on Never Back Down’s board.
“Why don’t you come over here and get it?” Wagner shot back before rising from his chair and immediately being held back by two other board members.
The super PAC has already burned through more than $100 million in an effort to boost DeSantis’ chances in Iowa and pave the way to eventually win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump, 77, currently leads the GOP Iowa caucuses with 51.3% support, according to the RealClearPolitics average, followed by DeSantis at 18.6% and Haley at 16.1%.
In New Hampshire, the former president is at 46.3% support, compared with Haley’s 24.8% and DeSantis’ 9.5%.
That lead has only increased since Trump was first indicted earlier this year by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — and has grown with subsequent indictments by special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Trump faces a whopping 91 charges across four separate cases.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sits at 5.9% support in Iowa, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is registering 3.7% support in the state.
In New Hampshire, Christie has also pulled ahead of DeSantis, and Ramaswamy is within one percentage point in a recent poll.
