Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) embattled presidential campaign faced more setbacks on Tuesday, after the campaign confirmed — on the heels of another round of weak national polling — that it has cut a third of its paid staffers.
DeSantis’ campaign has let go of roughly 38 people on its 90-person payroll as it seeks to slim down operations, Politico first reported. The governor’s operation framed the move as part of a “reset” after his campaign failed to catch fire since its May launch. That figure includes everyone who has departed the campaign in recent weeks amid its restructuring.
It also includes a communications staffer, Nate Hochman, who amplified a video featuring DeSantis superimposed against a Nazi-linked symbol and who once praised white nationalist Nick Fuentes, before walking back his statements.
“Following a top-to-bottom review of our organization, we have taken additional, aggressive steps to streamline operations and put Ron DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden,” DeSantis’ campaign manager, Generra Peck, said in a statement to HuffPost.
The cuts are the latest indication that DeSantis’ campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is falling flat, with DeSantis quickly burning through his cash while remaining a distant second behind former President Donald Trump. A national Monmouth University survey released Tuesday found that DeSantis is still running about 30 percentage points behind Trump when the entire GOP field is accounted for. In a one-on-one matchup, Trump leads with 55% support, while DeSantis trails at 35%.
The numbers aren’t a promising sign for a candidate who polled competitively against Trump before entering the race — and who was widely expected to clear the field as the “electable” version of the former president. Instead, DeSantis is fighting for oxygen against more than a dozen rivals who are running in a variety of lanes: anti-woke culture warrior, evangelical abortion opponent, Trump antagonist.
“DeSantis has not made any headway,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, wrote in the polling results. “The arguments that he’d be a stronger candidate and a more effective president than Trump have both fallen flat.”
In general, the GOP field has shown little movement outside of long-shot biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy cementing his third-place status in the Monmouth survey. Rival campaigns are also bracing for a possible surge from South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott less than six months from the first nominating contest.
The DeSantis team is planning a reboot that will focus on more intimate events instead of big speeches, with less of an emphasis on Florida. He also intends to play ball with the national media going forward. In a messaging memo sent out to key supporters this week, the campaign wrote: “We will cut down on event and travel costs, utilize campaign staff cuts to reinvest in what will win this primary and general election: Ron DeSantis and his message.”
The memo also stated that DeSantis would lean into the emerging narrative about his struggling campaign “to fuel momentum on the ground with voters.”
DeSantis downplayed his campaign woes in his first taped sit-down with a mainstream outlet, blaming his opponents for making him a target.
“I think the left views me as a threat because they think I’ll beat Biden and actually deliver on all this stuff. And then, of course, people who have their allegiances on the Republican side have gone after me,” DeSantis told CNN host Jake Tapper last week. “But the reality is, this is a state by state process. I’m not running a campaign to juice whatever we are in the national polls.”