DeSantis says cutting campaign staff about ‘focusing on what matters’
Jack Birle
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) responded to reports that his presidential campaign let go nearly a third of its staff by claiming the cuts will help his organization focus “on what matters.”
The Florida governor told Just the News in an interview that his campaign is refocusing on the early states in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries: Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
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“Well, it’s really about just focusing on what matters, which is these early states at the end of the day. I’ve been saying publicly, this isn’t a national campaign,” DeSantis said. “It’s a state-by-state. And so that’s the commander’s intent. And our organization needs to reflect my intent. And so now we’re doing that.
“We’re going to be lighter at the headquarters, but we’re going to start adding more people in the early stage fields,” he added.
Reports of the campaign shedding staff were confirmed by the Washington Examiner earlier this week, with campaign manager Generra Peck saying in a statement that there was a “top-to-bottom review” of the organization.
“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,” Peck said in a statement.
DeSantis’s presidential campaign has had a turbulent few months since it launched in May. The Florida governor has not moved in polls, staying significantly behind former President Donald Trump but remaining generally ahead of the rest of the field.
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The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump leading the Republican primary field with 52.4%, followed by DeSantis with 18.4%, while no other candidate has more than 5.4%.
DeSantis, along with several other Republican presidential candidates, will be speaking at the Iowa GOP’s 2023 Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines on Friday.