DeSantis Axes A Third Of 2024 Staff As Distant-Second Campaign Spins Its Wheels

Mired in deep-second place and under financial pressure, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is firing more than a third of his presidential campaign staff. 

Thirty-eight employees are getting the heave-ho, according to campaign staff who anonymously spoke to the Associated Press. Those cuts are far beyond what was described in a campaign leak less than two weeks ago, when a staffer said fewer than 10 event planners would be cut. This much bigger layoff also cuts across a broad range of functions. 

“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,” campaign manager Generra Peck said in a statement. “Gov. DeSantis is going to lead the Great American Comeback and we’re ready to hit the ground running as we head into an important month of the campaign.”

Money is flowing out of the campaign almost as fast as it's coming in. In a particularly ominous indicator of campaign health, Politico reports that much of the $20 million the DeSantis campaign raised in the second quarter came from donors who are now maxed out against federal campaign restrictions. At the same time, other potential donors will be less likely to contribute to a candidate whose chances seem to be decreasing. 

The substance of DeSantis's campaign is also proving to be a liability: Billionaire donors Ken Griffin and Nelson Peltz are reportedly losing enthusiasm for DeSantis. "Griffin objects to a recent clampdown on teaching about gender and sexuality and DeSantis’s ongoing fight with Disney, while Peltz has taken issue with his stance on abortion," the Financial Times reported Sunday. 

As if things weren't tough enough on DeSantis already, he was also compelled this week to fire a staffer who'd shared a video of DeSantis superimposed over a Sonnenrad, a symbol associated with neo-Nazis, including the ones in the Ukrainian military. Some reports suggest the staffer secretly created the video himself. 

The staff reductions are part of a broader effort to reboot DeSantis's campaign. Despite some early indications that the Florida governor could capitalize on his record of helping to lead the country out of Covid lockdown madness -- albeit, after he'd initially embraced it himself -- he's still far behind frontrunner Donald Trump, whose lead has recently grown. 

Nationwide, Trump is up by 43 points, according to Morning Consult poll released this week. DeSantis registered a new weekly low in the Morning Consult poll, with only 16% of polled Republicans backing him, compared to 59% for Trump. Vivek Ramaswamy came in at 8%, and Mike Pence at 6%. In a general election matchup, Trump trailed Biden by 2%; DeSantis lagged by 6%. 

Things don't look much better where the primary rubber will initially meet the road: Trump leads by 33% in Iowa and 22% in New Hampshire, according to the RealClearPolitics poll averages.  

The Trump campaign was quick to gleefully tweet about the latest sign of a flailing DeSantis campaign: 

Meanwhile, the mood inside the DeSantis campaign isn't nearly as cheerful. "These are dark times," an anonymous staffer told The Messenger. "We're in decline...it feels like we're in the end game." Note: those comments came before news of the much bigger layoff. 

In a message to supporters, DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo tried to put lipstick on the grim news: “We will embrace being the underdog and use the media’s ongoing narrative about the campaign to fuel the momentum on the ground with voters.”

Tony Fabrizio, top pollster for the MAGA Inc Super Pac, ridiculed Romeo's logic. "They’re going to use negative coverage of their failing campaign to help propel their campaign? What laughing gas are they on?”