RON DESANTIS’ CAMPAIGN has let go of several staff members just two months into it hitting the campaign trail while it deals with bleeding cash in its effort to stave off Donald Trump’s lead for a Republican presidential nomination bid.
According to NBC News, in the campaign’s first six weeks, he had already hit all the top donors and bled through $7.9 million as a presidential candidate, according to the data the network analyzed from his campaign finance disclosure.
Beyond the cash woes, the staff shakeup included about a dozen mid-level staffers from several departments who were fired amid the campaign’s cashflow issues. The firings come as DeSantis has struggled in meeting its fundraising goals. DeSantis had raised $20 million, with $3 million dedicated to the general election. However, two-thirds of the funds came from donors who gave the maximum amount allowed legally, meaning they cannot donate more to him. Only 15 percent of DeSantis donations came from small donors, an area where Trump has succeeded in shoring up his donations.
Sources told NBC News that despite the $20 million, the campaign had taken on too many staffers early in the process, and costs needed to be cut down.
“They never should have brought so many people on, the burn rate was way too high,” one Republican source familiar with the campaign’s thought process told the network. “People warned the campaign manager [Generra Peck] but she wanted to hear none of it.”
In the second quarter, DeSantis had already spent $1 million on payroll, payroll taxes, and associated fees with 90 staffers on board. It is the largest staff of any of the Republican candidates, and left the campaign with less resources than it anticipated.
