Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is reportedly moving most of his campaign staff to South Carolina, even ahead of the New Hampshire primary.
One would think the DeSantis campaign would shift its primary focus to New Hampshire, given Election Day is looming on January 23. Indeed, the presidential hopeful had a lackluster performance in Iowa, coming roughly 30 points behind former President Donald Trump. However, he still managed to edge out former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by about two percentage points — less than 3,000 votes.
While DeSantis has campaigned in New Hampshire, he is reportedly shifting strategies following canceled debates and is moving resources to South Carolina, even before the Granite State’s primary.
According to CBS News:
The move to shift resources to South Carolina — and essentially forgo daily campaigning in the Granite State in the week before the primary — comes after two planned debates DeSantis accepted to attend in New Hampshire (CNN and ABC/WMUR) were canceled.
The goal from DeSantis’ campaign is to put pressure on former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to win her home state, implying she would leave the race if she does not, as DeSantis’ campaign has a longer term goal of getting the GOP contest to a “two person” race between DeSantis and Trump.
A senior DeSantis campaign official told CBS News, “When Nikki Haley fails to win her home state, she’ll be finished, and this will be a two-person race — and her donors are starting to come to the same conclusion.”
“While they continue to have buyers’ remorse over backing a bubble-wrapped candidate who can’t beat Trump, we’re wasting no time in taking the fight directly to Haley on her home turf,” the official added.
Ironically, it was Haley who declared that it is now a “two-person race” after placing third in the Iowa caucuses.
“But when you look at how we’re doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, and beyond, I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race,” she said during her speech Monday night.
WATCH: Nikki Haley Claims Republican Primary Is a “Two-Person Race” After Placing Third in Iowa Caucus
C-SPANThe DeSantis campaign’s move is reminiscent of the failed strategy of the past. In October, the campaign moved roughly one-third of its staff to Iowa. As Breitbart News reported:
Three top aides to DeSantis at the time — communications director Andrew Romeo, deputy campaign manager David Polyansky, and national political director Sam Cooper — were placed in Iowa the following month. According to Politico, the DeSantis campaign had also set up headquarters in Urbandale, Iowa.
Notably, the DeSantis campaign originally planned to devote resources to New Hampshire, as revealed in a “confidential friends and family update” in the summer of 2023, designed to reassure donors as DeSantis failed to see positive movement in the polls.
The memo stated in part [emphasis added]:
Ron DeSantis is running a campaign to win everywhere. It would be a mistake to take a paid media and field program off the table in service of other states, we will not cede New Hampshire. From what we can tell, pro-DeSantis efforts are currently and will continue to run a robust effort in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, that includes paid media and field.
While Super Tuesday is critically important, we will not dedicate resources to Super Tuesday that slow our momentum in New Hampshire. We expect to revisit this investment in the Fall.
Thursday’s RealClearPolling (RCP) results showed Trump leading in New Hampshire by an average of 13.3 points and DeSantis garnering a meager average of 5.8 percentage points. RCP results also show Trump leading by an average of 30.2 percent in South Carolina, with DeSantis coming in third place behind Trump and Haley with an average of 11 points.
