5 Takeaways From the Financial Reports of 2024 Candidates

President Biden has a notable but not overwhelming financial advantage over his top Republican rival, former President Donald J. Trump, and Nikki Haley — the last Republican candidate standing in the way of Mr. Trump’s nomination — appears to have the money to continue her insurgent battle against him.

Those were the key findings from a trove of campaign finance documents filed before a Feb. 1 deadline set by the Federal Election Commission for end-of-year fund-raising and spending reports.

The size of Mr. Biden’s war chest, and Ms. Haley’s substantial cash on hand, demonstrate in financial terms a vulnerability for Mr. Trump even as he tries to project an air of inevitability over his nomination as the Republican candidate.

The filings also provided a sort of autopsy report for Gov. Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential campaign — one of the most expensive since the introduction of the modern Republican primaries.

Here are some takeaways:

Ron DeSantis Spent Freely

Mr. DeSantis’s failed presidential campaign cost more than $160 million. He finished in a distant second place behind Mr. Trump in the Iowa caucuses,and then dropped out of the race altogether shortly after.

The campaign bill is an enormous figure reflecting Mr. DeSantis’s stunning plummet in the race over the last year, after announcing his candidacy to much hype. A super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis’s campaign, Never Back Down, had about $120 million in hand by the time he entered the race in May. By the end of the year, it had spent all of that money and then some.