Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has begun cutting campaign staff just months into his presidential bid as he has struggled to gain traction in the Republican primary and lost ground in some public polls to former President Donald J. Trump.
The exact number of people let go by DeSantis’ team was unclear, but a campaign aide said it was fewer than 10. The development was previously reported by Politician.
Layoffs are an ominous sign for the campaign as well underline the challenges facing Mr. DeSantis with both his fundraising and his spending, at a time when several major donors who had expressed interest in him have become concerned about his performance.
An aide, Andrew Romeo, described the circumstances of the campaign in an optimistic tone.
“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,” he said in a statement. “Defeating Joe Biden and the $72 million behind him will require a nimble, candidate-driven campaign, and we’re building a movement to go the distance.”
The race is still early, and previous campaigns have been reorganized in the months before voting begins. Former Senator John McCain blew up his campaign in the summer of 2007 before winning the Republican nomination. Mr. Trump went through three iterations of his successful bid, though none came during the primaries.
Several top DeSantis fundraisers have said the Florida governor is in it for the long haul, focusing on the upcoming debates and contests that begin in January.
But the movements of Mr. DeSantis arrive unusually early. And the fundraising numbers, released Saturday, show a campaign that will have to make several adjustments, including its travel schedule and staff size, if it plans to regain lost momentum that began to fade months before Mr. DeSantis formally entered the market. career
The DeSantis campaign is also expected to make more changes, according to aides. Policy speeches, along with interviews with the kind of media he has generally mocked, are expected as early as this week, according to two people familiar with the strategy.
The struggles of Mr. DeSantis seems to be referring not only to the numbers, but also to the message of the campaign. Late last week, it was announced that two of DeSantis’ top advisers, Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain, would be leaving to join an outside group backing Mr. DeSantis.
The campaign finance disclosure of Mr. DeSantis with the Federal Election Commission shows that he raised roughly $20 million but spent nearly $8 million, a so-called consumption rate that leaves him with just $12 million in cash on hand. Only about $9 million of that money can be spent in the primary, and the rest will count toward the general election if he’s the nominee.
The filing indicated a surprisingly large staff for a campaign so early in a candidacy, especially for one with a super PAC that has shown how much of a load it’s willing to handle. Over $1 million in expenses were listed as “payroll” and payroll processing.
The main expenses of Mr. DeSantis include $1.3 million earmarked for travel, including private jet charter services. The campaign also spent more than $800,000 each on digital fundraising consulting, media placement and postage. The campaign also paid nearly $1 million to WinRed, the online donation processing company.
Recent Republican primary races have been littered with examples of candidates with early sparks followed by major struggles. Scott Walker, who was the governor of Wisconsin, dropped out of the presidential race in September 2015 while piling up debt. Jeb Bush, one of the predecessors of Mr. DeSantis as governor of Florida and perhaps the biggest donor draw in the 2016 campaign, also began losing payroll amid the struggles, albeit much later in the race.
Even so, the allies of Mr. DeSantis points out that he is ahead in the polls in Iowa than Mr. Bush in the fall of 2015 and that he has a more natural constituency in Iowa than other rivals. The caucuses will be held on January 15, 2024, and it is the state where candidates who want to unseat Mr Trump must do well.
Rachel Shorey contributed to the report.
