Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s fledgling presidential campaign has laid off one-third of its staff as the campaign is reportedly waging a “reset” amid declining poll numbers and worse-than-expected fundraising, according to multiple reports.
Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis departs after delivering remarks at ... [+]
The campaign has let go of 38 of the 90-some staffers who were initially employed, Politico and the New York Times reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the layoffs.
The slim-down comes after Politico reported last week that the campaign had laid off 10 staffers involved in event planning after failing to meet fundraising targets.
DeSantis, who is trailing former President Donald Trump by 33 points, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average, has had a series of missteps since announcing his bid in May, reportedly prompting GOP mega donors who have disavowed Trump to eye alternative candidates.
As part of an effort to get to his campaign back on track, DeSantis’s advisers told donors at a briefing this weekend in Utah he is recalibrating to run an “insurgent” campaign that includes a leaner staff, heightened focus on key primary states and more mainstream media appearances (something he has largely shied away from), according to Politico.
Forbes has reached out to DeSantis’s campaign for comment.
DeSantis’s campaign manager, Generra Peck, told the Times the staffing changes followed “a top-to-bottom review of our organization,” that includes “aggressive steps to streamline operations and put Ron DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden.”
DeSantis has downplayed concerns about his bleak polling numbers and blamed the media and his political adversaries for creating a “narrative” that his campaign is in trouble. His campaign spokesperson Andrew Romeo defended DeSantis’s trajectory in a statement to Politico last week, insisting that “Americans are rallying behind Ron DeSantis and his plan to reverse Joe Biden’s failures and restore sanity to our nation, and his momentum will only continue as voters see more of him in person, especially in Iowa.”
In addition to DeSantis’s failure to gain traction in polls, his campaign has also showed signs of financial mismanagement. He has spent 40% of the $20 million raised during the second quarter fundraising cycle, most of which came from large donors, according to the New York Times. The spending reports show the campaign has spent a large chunk of its cash, amounting to $1.5 million or 20%, on private flights, the Washington Post reported—a habit that runs contrary with DeSantis’s anti-elite messaging. DeSantis has also had a series of high-profile missteps, including the glitch-plagued launch of his campaign on Twitter Spaces and a bizarre video shared by his campaign that criticized Trump for previous statements he made in support of the LGBTQ community. The video featured a cartoonishly machismo depiction of DeSantis and a series of images of shirtless men that were viewed as both homophobic and homoerotic.
DeSantis heads to Iowa Wednesday to kick off a 99-county tour with the help of the Never Back Down super PAC supporting his campaign.
DeSantis was involved in a car crash Tuesday in Tennessee, where he’s conducting a three-city fundraising push, Chattanooga police said. DeSantis was not injured in the incident, though one female staffer suffered a minor injury, according to a police spokesperson. The crash occurred around 8:15 a.m. on I-75 south when one of the vehicles in DeSantis’s motorcade abruptly slowed down, causing a rear-end collision involving four of the vehicles, according to law enforcement.
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