Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign has laid off about a dozen staffers — and more are expected in the coming weeks as he shakes up his big-money political operations after less than two months on the campaign trail.
Those who were let go were described to NBC News by a source familiar with the matter as mid-level staff from various departments whose departures were related to cost-cutting. The departures follow the departures of David Abrams and Tucker Obenshain, veterans of DeSantis’ political orbit, which were first reported by Politician.
Sources involved in the DeSantis campaign say there is an internal assessment among some that they hired too many staff too soon, and despite bringing in $20 million in their first six weeks, it was clear they needed to cut costs.
Some in DeSantis’ political orbit are laying early blame at the feet of campaign manager Generra Peck, who also spearheaded DeSantis’ 2022 midterm re-election bid and is in the hot seat right now.
“It should be,” said one DeSantis donor.
“They should never have brought so many people, the burn rate was too high,” said a Republican source familiar with the campaign’s thought process. “People alerted the campaign manager, but she didn’t want to hear anything.”
“DeSantis’ stock is not going up,” the donor added. “Twenty percent is not what people signed up for.”
The person noted that DeSantis has a penchant for personnel turnover, meaning he doesn’t have a core team that has worked together before. DeSantis had three different campaign teams for each of his three congressional runs, and notably had a major campaign overhaul during his first run for governor in 2018.
DeSantis’ campaign had 92 people on the payroll for at least some time during its first fundraising period, according to campaign finance reports filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission. It’s by far the most of any Republican presidential candidate, and has left his campaign with big payroll expenses and, new filings show, fewer resources than initially thought.
DeSantis has $12 million in the bank, but $3 million of that can only be used during the general election. And about $14 million of its $12 million second-quarter total came from donors who gave the maximum legal amount. In other words, roughly two-thirds of his early donors won’t be able to give directly to his campaign for the duration of the race.
Never Back Down, the pro-DeSantis super PAC, has said it will spend up to $200 million to boost the governor’s White House bid and has a significantly larger staff than the official campaign.
The timing of the potential reset comes ahead of a meeting of the national finance committee for DeSantis’ campaign on Sunday in Tallahassee, which will rally the campaign’s masterminds as they try to figure out how to build on Trump’s massive GOP primary lead .
The event will include a briefing at the campaign’s Tallahassee headquarters followed by a barbecue at the governor’s mansion, according to an invitation reviewed by NBC News.
DeSantis has been unable to make up ground against Trump after nearly two months as the official candidate. That stalemate is beginning to frustrate some supporters, who want an overhaul of the campaign, which is led day-to-day by Peck and Ryan Tyson, a longtime Florida Republican pollster.
“Yes, there are people complaining, no doubt,” said one DeSantis donor. “There’s a general feeling, including with me, that it just hasn’t caught on like we thought it would.”
The person said he believes DeSantis’ inner circle underestimated how difficult and expensive it would be to break the grip of the Republican base held by Trump, who has a significant lead and is seen as the overwhelming leader. Even in Florida, a state that re-elected DeSantis by nearly 20 percentage points just seven months ago, Trump now has his own 20-point lead over DeSantis, he has reported. a Florida Atlantic University poll released last week.
The shakeup could include the return of Phil Cox, the veteran Republican operative who helped run DeSantis’ 2022 re-election campaign and served as an adviser to Never Back Down before leaving that role at the end of May.
Cox is in Tallahassee for the national finance meeting but has no formal role with the campaign, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.
DeSantis has indicated that she is aware that her campaign did not start the way she wanted, but she has largely blamed media coverage and other outside factors.
To try to refocus, his campaign is doubling down on early states, particularly Iowa, whose first-in-the-nation nominating contest is now seen as a crucial marker. If DeSantis wins, the field will narrow and move closer to the one-on-one showdown with Trump that he wants. But losing the key state would likely further cement Trump’s status as an unbeatable leader.
That assessment was outlined in a confidential internal memo obtained by NBC News on Friday that outlines the campaign’s strategy for regaining its balance. The memo indicated there would be a heavy focus on early states where DeSantis’ advisers think Trump supporters can be won over.
“Early state voters are only mildly committed to the candidates they select on such a distant election question, including many Trump supporters,” the memo read. “Participants in our focus groups in early states even say they don’t plan to make up their minds until they meet the candidates or watch them debate.”
Never Back Down is ramping up those efforts, focusing on both early stage states and a handful of Super Tuesday states, most notably California, where the group expects to hire about 80 organizers in the near future.
For some supporters, however, there are now three keys to DeSantis remaining viable: Iowa, Iowa, Iowa.
“They need to treat it like it’s all that matters right now,” the DeSantis donor said. “If Trump wins, it’s over. It means there’s got to be a lot of it. He’s got to do all the retail politics he can.”
The person said DeSantis’ wife, Casey, is a huge asset in doing the kind of retail politics needed to win Iowa, but DeSantis himself needs to improve.
“He needs to find this equipment,” the person said. “He needs to find it quickly.”
