Never Back Down tested limits of super PACs. Will it become a cautionary tale?

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) rode into 2023 on the heels of an electoral landslide and with enormous financial backing for a potential presidential run.

At the end of the year, his support is down by nearly two-thirds, donors are holding their fire or looking elsewhere, and he is making headlines for internal headaches plaguing his campaign, namely with the embattled Never Back Down PAC.

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Super political action committees became a major force in the wake of a 2010 court decision that liberalized laws related to campaign contributions. They can accept unlimited donations from individuals, corporations, and associations but are still legally required to operate separately from political campaigns.

DeSantis tested the limits of that distance by incorporating his presidential campaign, which launched in May, closely with Never Back Down PAC. But in recent weeks, six of the PAC leaders have resigned, and its chief strategist left following a Washington Post expose that detailed internal fighting and finger pointing as the campaign sputtered.

The group fired CEO Kristin Davison earlier this month, less than two weeks after she took over for former CEO Chris Jankowski. Erin Perrine, former communications director for the group, and Matthew Palmisano, its former director of operations, were also fired. Adam Laxalt, a former Nevada attorney general and chairman of the super PAC, left the group that same week to focus on his family and law practice. Chief strategist Jeff Roe resigned over the weekend.

The question now is whether the problems at Never Back Down will serve as a cautionary tale about a campaign working too closely with a PAC or if it’s simply a downstream effect of a campaign that isn’t connecting with voters.

In any case, they aren’t the kind of headlines a candidate wants to make.

Tom Beaumont/AP

“When you’re running for office, you want the focus to be on your candidacy, not on your campaign,” said Dennis Goldford, a longtime political science professor at Drake University in Iowa. “As soon as people start talking about ‘Maybe there’s trouble in paradise,’ that becomes the story rather than your message or candidacy.”

Unlike super PACs of the past that primarily pumped money into advertising campaigns without consultation with the candidate, Never Back Down became a regular part of the presidential infrastructure, including lining up events for the Florida governor to attend.

One of the big strategies with Never Back Down was a massive door knocking campaign. In his book The Courage to Be Free, DeSantis attributes much of his successful first campaign for the House of Representatives to knocking on doors with his wife, Casey.

That may have inspired the idea to knock on doors across Iowa and other early primary states to drum up support. Now those door knockers may face questions about what’s going on within their operation.

The DeSantis campaign has downplayed the turmoil, with spokesman Andrew Romeo telling the Washington Post, “We’re not going to be distracted by more false narratives coming from unknown sources with harmful agendas.”

Still, the fact that Romeo has to parry questions about the matter may speak to its presence as a distraction. Goldford argues that the PAC’s internal turmoil is likely the result of DeSantis’s underwhelming campaign, not the cause of it.

“In many cases, it’s the difficulties with the candidacy itself that often generates problems within the organization rather than the other way around,” Goldford said. “If you’re having trouble with a candidacy itself, your popular support, your ability to articulate a message, when you have problems there, that starts to foster issues within your organization and supporting ones.”

The DeSantis campaign may also be in trouble on the legal side, however, as it has drawn a complaint in the wake of the controversy. An organization called the Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint, alleging coordination between the DeSantis campaign and Never Back Down that violates federal election laws.

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DeSantis himself was asked about the issues during a campaign stop, saying it was not a distraction for him.

“I’m not involved in any of that,” DeSantis said. “As you guys know, it’s a separate entity. And so stuff just happens. And it’s not in my purview. … It’s not a distraction for me. I mean, I know media may want to do it.”