Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to shake up his 2024 campaign leadership, according to people familiar with the matter, amid pressure from donors and supporters to salvage his struggling presidential bid.
DeSantis is elevating digital director Ethan Eilon to deputy campaign manager, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves. Eilon is seen internally as adept at keeping a close eye on the operation’s spending.
The campaign is under intense pressure from a handful of donors and allies to replace manager Generra Peck after filings showed a bloated payroll, with not enough donations to sustain the head count or travel. Peck did not respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis and his wife, Casey, have been frustrated by the spending in the first quarter and are trying to correct it, said a person briefed on their discussions.
Peck’s position is being questioned as the campaign enters a critical stretch ahead of the first Republican primary debate in August. In recent days, DeSantis has dropped even further in the polls in early voting states like Iowa and South Carolina, according to the latest Fox Business poll, and donors worry he is failing to close the gap with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
DeSantis’s early campaign missteps have exposed him to scrutiny from donors, who wanted him to deliver a knock-out blow to Trump’s 2024 comeback bid. Those campaign contributors have faulted his preference for keeping an insular group of loyal staffers, like Peck.
In Park City, Utah, over the weekend at a major donor retreat, Peck acknowledged the campaign had overspent.
She told donors DeSantis’s team had a record quarter of fundraising but was still burning through cash too fast. She promised donors that the campaign intended to correct its spending and emphasized it would be a leaner and meaner operation moving forward, according to a person briefed on the session.
Peck is seen as having the trust of both DeSantis and his wife, who is also one of his closest political advisers, but the team is blaming Peck for unwieldy campaign spending.
The campaign’s cash-burn is partly due to DeSantis’s penchant for private travel and a roughly 90-person staff. The campaign isn’t bringing in enough donations to maintain that large of an operation, according to filings.
“The media has tried to destroy Ron DeSantis’ campaign since day one because they are scared to death he will beat Joe Biden,” said communications director Andrew Romeo in a statement. “We won’t be deterred and are going to win the nomination.”
As part of its ongoing reset, the campaign is curbing its spending to focus mostly on visits and outreach in early voting states, and intends to have DeSantis do more town halls and intimate gatherings so voters can get to know him on a personal level, according to a person briefed on the plans.
In both Iowa and New Hampshire, the campaign has been criticized for sticking mostly to speeches or fireside chats instead of spending the time to take questions from voters — as is the custom in both states.
Earlier: DeSantis Resets 2024 Bid With Six Months Until Voting Starts
DeSantis’s campaign has been slowed by a glitch-filled rollout on Twitter, unforced errors and the candidate’s own reluctance to directly challenge Trump, even after his rival was hit by multiple criminal indictments.
The RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Trump leading DeSantis by 33.3 percentage points six months before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation GOP caucus.
DeSantis earlier in July fired a handful of staffers due to a cash crunch, did more national television interviews, and pared down his travel schedule to prioritize visits to early voting states crucial to longevity in the primary.
The team has sought to unveil policy proposals each month and give a more prominent role to the governor’s wife on the campaign trail, according to sources briefed on the plans.
DeSantis’s team recently summoned donors to a reception at the Florida governor’s mansion and reached out to others who were not able to attend, seeking to reassure them about the campaign’s strategy.
DeSantis faces an uphill path challenging Trump, who has a fervent base and still commands the loyalty of most top Republicans. The governor has struggled to gain ground with his strategy of appealing to Republicans tired of Trump while not angering his chief rival’s most ardent supporters.
Trump has seen his fundraising and popularity soar in the wake of a federal indictment over the alleged mishandling of classified documents and New York state charges over alleged hush money payments to an adult film star.
(Updates with Peck outlining cash-strain to donors in 7th paragraph)