DeSantis In Disarray As Campaign Sheds Staff, Focuses on Iowa

Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign is shedding staff as it redirects its focus to the Iowa caucus in January. Fewer than ten staffers—around 10% of the campaign’s on-the-books staff— were let go on Thursday, Politico reported Saturday and even more staffers are expected to be cut in the cost-cutting shakeup in the coming weeks, according to NBC.

Despite clocking over $20 million in second-quarter donations, the Florida governor’s expensive bid for the White House has fallen short of fundraising expectations.

The move is part of a broader campaign strategy as DeSantis will reportedly begin giving interviews to traditional media outlets, which he has largely spurned in the first few months of his campaign. On Sunday, CNN announced that DeSantis will sit down with Jake Tapper for an interview on Tuesday.

DeSantis spokesperson Andrew Romeo sounded upbeat about the state of the campaign. “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 on Saturday. “Defeating Joe Biden and the $72 million behind him will require a nimble and candidate-driven campaign, and we are building a movement to go the distance.”

The campaign is reportedly focused on going all-in for the first GOP primary in Iowa in mid-January. That strategy was on display this weekend as DeSantis skipped a major gathering of conservative activists in his home state to campaign in Iowa. The conference, hosted by Turning Point USA, was headlined by former president Donald Trump, who spoke Saturday night. “Donald Trump gave us an opening in Iowa this week, and we’re taking it,” DeSantis spokesperson Andrew Romeo told Politico. The Iowa trip included a stop at Dairy Queen, a dig toward DeSantis’s chief rival, who flubbed an event at the fast food chain a week prior.

Trump spent his prime-time address Saturday night bashing DeSantis, who he said has no path to victory and should withdraw from the race. “He was never that close, by the way,” Trump, who leads the Florida Governor by 30 points, told the crowd of 6,000 conservatives assembled in West Palm Beach.

The former president and Republican frontrunner criticized DeSantis for skipping the event, which included about a third of the Republican presidential field. “I don’t know why he’s not here,” he said. “He should be here representing himself.”

“Governor DeSantis spent the day with Iowans and spoke to a packed house at the Tennessee G.O.P. Statesman Dinner later that night,” Brian Griffin, DeSantis’s press secretary, said in a statement on Saturday. “This was a day after he delivered the strongest interview at the Family Leadership Summit, which Donald Trump notably skipped. Ron DeSantis is campaigning to win.”

DeSantis had previously worked closely with Turning Point USA, but may have decided to skip the event after Trump was named the headliner on the same day DeSantis announced his campaign.