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2024 Presidential Election Who Is Running? First G.O.P. Debate Approaches DeSantis’s Campaign Reboot Who Leads the Money Race? 2024 Filings Takeaways

DeSantis Cuts Campaign Staff by Over

a Third, Aiming to Rein In Costs
His presidential campaign, facing questions from allies and
donors about the strength of his candidacy, has now eliminated
the jobs of 38 aides this month.

Give this article 218

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has struggled to gain traction in his early months as a
presidential candidate. Kathryn Gamble for The New York Times

By Shane Goldmacher , Maggie Haberman , Jonathan Swan and Nicholas Nehamas

July 25, 2023 Updated 3:29 p.m. ET

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is sharply cutting the size of his

presidential campaign staff, reducing by more than one-third a
payroll that had swelled to more than 90 people in his first two
months as a candidate, according to four people with knowledge of
the decision.

The DeSantis campaign has now made two rounds of cutbacks in

the past week, and has eliminated the jobs of 38 aides this month, a
figure that is nearly the size of former President Donald J. Trump’s
entire 2024 campaign staff. Politico first reported on the latest
reduction.

Mr. DeSantis has struggled to gain traction in his early months as a

candidate, losing ground to Mr. Trump in the polls as allies and
donors have raised questions about the long-term strength of his
candidacy.

Those worries came to a head after the first public glimpse of his
campaign’s finances this month. It showed that Mr. DeSantis’s
payroll was roughly double the size of Mr. Trump’s and that he was
burning through 40 percent of the $20 million he had raised from
April through June. Mr. DeSantis’s heavy use of private planes and
his decision to rent luxury venues for some fund-raising events,
including a Utah donor retreat last weekend, drew added scrutiny.

Mr. DeSantis entered July with just $9 million to spend on the

primary race from his initial haul. A significant portion came from
donors who gave the maximum amount possible, meaning they
cannot contribute again.

The 2024 G.O.P. Presidential Candidates

Donald Trump. The former president is running to retake the office he lost in
2020. Though somewhat diminished in influence within the Republican Party
— and facing several legal investigations — he retains a large and committed
base of supporters, and he could be aided in the primary by multiple
challengers splitting a limited anti-Trump vote.

The cutbacks are seen internally as a recognition not just that

spending must be reined in but also that fund-raising is expected to
be harder in the coming months. Many bigger donors are now
spooked by Mr. DeSantis’s sliding poll numbers and may be less
inclined to risk getting on the wrong side of Mr. Trump than they
were a few months ago, when Mr. DeSantis looked more
competitive.

One DeSantis donor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be

candid, said that he expected the next quarter of fund-raising to be
an extremely tough slog and that donor interest in Mr. DeSantis
has dried up considerably.

In a statement, Mr. DeSantis’s campaign manager, Generra Peck,

said the changes followed “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,” she said.

There have been some shifts inside the leadership of the campaign,
which is based in Tallahassee: Ethan Eilon, who had served as
digital director, is now deputy campaign manager. Carl Sceusa, who
had overseen the campaign’s technology, is now the chief financial
officer.

On Tuesday, Mr. DeSantis was on a three-stop fund-raising swing

through Tennessee when his four-car motorcade had a pileup after
traffic suddenly slowed. One campaign aide was lightly injured, but
the governor was unharmed.

On Thursday, Mr. DeSantis is set to return to Iowa for two days of

events and his first bus trip in the state. But in a cost-cutting move,
his campaign is not putting together the tour. His main super PAC
is doing so instead, inviting Mr. DeSantis as a “special guest.”

The payroll reduction came on the heels of a donor retreat in Park

City, Utah, where Mr. DeSantis convened about 70 top supporters.
They enjoyed s’mores on the deck and cocktails as campaign
officials and super PAC advisers made presentations about the
state of the race.

Two people at the donor event said that despite the fact that the
alarming campaign filing had dominated coverage of Mr. DeSantis
heading into the weekend, there was very little talk of it by
campaign officials in formal sessions. Instead, they focused on the
notion that they were steadying the ship, making adjustments and
trying to find ways to help Mr. DeSantis spread his message.

Mr. DeSantis himself held one interactive session with donors, who
tossed out suggested zingers for next month’s debate. Among the
Republicans who were seen at the retreat was Phil Cox, who was a
top adviser on Mr. DeSantis’s 2022 campaign and had initially been
in line for a top role on his 2024 super PAC. Instead, Mr. Cox is
helping the campaign itself with fund-raising and some informal
support.

Nick Iarossi, a lobbyist in Tallahassee and DeSantis supporter who

attended the retreat, said the weekend had gone well.

“Campaign manager Generra Peck and the team assured the

donors of a new insurgency campaign style,” Mr. Iarossi said before
the latest round of cutbacks was announced. “It’s going to be a
lean, efficient and tactical campaign moving forward that’s going to
focus on return on investment. They are going to cut things quickly
that aren’t producing results.”

In Utah, Ms. Peck’s leadership was a focus of some of the donors in

private conversations among themselves, according to people
familiar with the discussions. But the weekend ended with Ms.
Peck, who has made herself indispensable to both Mr. DeSantis
and his wife, Casey, still in charge.

Shane Goldmacher is a national political reporter and was previously the chief political
correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times, he worked at Politico,
where he covered national Republican politics and the 2016 presidential campaign.
More about Shane Goldmacher
Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent and the author of “Confidence
Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.” She was part of a team
that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on President Trump’s advisers and their
connections to Russia. More about Maggie Haberman
Jonathan Swan is a political reporter who focuses on campaigns and Congress. As a
reporter for Axios, he won an Emmy Award for his 2020 interview of then-President
Donald J. Trump, and the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Aldo Beckman
Award for “overall excellence in White House coverage” in 2022. More about Jonathan
Swan
Nicholas Nehamas is a campaign reporter, focusing on the candidacy of Gov. Ron
DeSantis of Florida. Before joining The Times, he was an investigative reporter at the
Miami Herald. More about Nicholas Nehamas

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The Run-Up to the 2024 Election

Donald Trump
The Republican front-runner is facing a growing tangle of criminal and civil trials
that will overlap with next year’s presidential primaries, raising extraordinary
logistical, legal and political questions .

Trump has appealed for an endorsement from the United Auto Workers for his
White House bid , saying that only his return to the presidency could save the
automotive industry from President Biden’s “ridiculous Green New Deal crusade.”

President Biden
Wealthy Democrats have thrown their money behind the president’s re-election
bid, but the small donors that helped him break fund-raising records during his
2020 campaign have yet to step up their contributions .

Biden and his advisers are elevating Future Forward, a new outside group, as the
leading super PAC to help re-elect him in 2024, making it the top destination for
large sums of money from supportive billionaires and multimillionaires.

The G.O.P. Field

Ron DeSantis : The Florida governor’s account of how he dealt with the Covid
pandemic omits key points, including his flawed approach to vaccinations .

Tim Scott: The South Carolina senator appears to be perfectly positioned to seize
the moment if Trump or DeSantis falters. The only question is whether either
moment will come .

Vivek Ramaswamy: The biotech entrepreneur released a list of potential choices

for the Supreme Court , in an effort to highlight his conservative credentials to
early-state voters.
Will Hurd : Hoping to break through a crowded G.O.P. field, the former Texas
congressman is pitching himself as a modern, moderate Republican with a
bipartisan vision .

Asa Hutchinson : Over pizzas or coffee, the former governor of Arkansas is talking
to Iowans, six or eight at a time, in a fight to get into the Republican debates and
stay in the race .

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