DeSantis Campaign Laying Off Dozens of Staffers

DeSantis is a major contender for the GOP nomination.
Trump is leading the governor by more than 30 percentage points.

The Florida governor is sinking in the polls.

DeSantis recently laid off dozens of campaign staffers.

(NewsReady.com) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running for the Republican nomination for president, and he’s going up against former President Donald Trump. The media and political pundits speculated that he would throw his hat into the ring for over a year. When he finally did, his poll numbers had slumped significantly from where they were right after the 2022 midterms when he won reelection and helped down-ticket candidates in his state.

Though DeSantis is still considered one of the top contenders for the nomination, he has an uphill battle. Recently, he laid off dozens of staffers.

Campaign Reset

DeSantis is reportedly going through a campaign reset in an attempt to get back on course after a difficult few weeks. POLITICO reported he laid off more than a third of his staff — or 38 jobs total. That includes 10 members of his event planning team, which was announced days ago.

Generra Peck, the governor’s campaign manager, issued a statement saying they’d done a “top-to-bottom review” and decided to take “aggressive steps to streamline operations” so DeSantis would be in the strongest possible position to win the GOP primary and beat President Joe Biden in the general election.

Fundraising

Recent campaign finance records show the campaign raised $20 million during the second quarter but spent much of it. Peck said they had overspent in some areas, so they had to make further adjustments.

The hosts of the progressive podcast, Pod Save America, remarked in a recent show that with 90 staffers, DeSantis’ campaign team was very large for this stage of the race. The hosts are experts in the subject, having worked for former President Barack Obama’s winning campaigns. It appears DeSantis’ team came to the same conclusion.

Messaging

While DeSantis’ campaign tries to get back on track, the Tampa Bay Times reported the governor is also having trouble with messaging. Issues back home in Florida, like education standards for black history, are getting in the way of his national message. One of the staffers let go in the recent layoffs was Nate Hochman, who retweeted a video using Nazi symbolism.

Now his campaign is shifting its focus to Iowa, one of the early states. “We’re going to win Iowa,” the governor stated. But he made it clear that he thinks they have to earn it.