This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
The expanded cuts are the latest sign that the Florida governor’s team is pivoting to a slim-down operation amid concerns over their finances. The campaign announced it had raised $20 million during the second quarter of this year. But it had spent a good chunk of that money. Much of the sum it raised, moreover, came from donors who had given the maximum amount and could not give again.
According to recent federal filings, the campaign counted 90-plus staffers on its payroll through the end of June.
During a donor retreat in Deer Valley, Utah, last week, Peck acknowledged that the campaign had overspent in some areas and that further adjustments would need to be made. Advisers also outlined plans for DeSantis — who has been criticized for overseeing a bloated operation — to reposition himself as an insurgent underdog. They also said they would aim to reduce costs by doing smaller, more intimate events and cutting down its travel expenditures.
Some aides will be leaving the campaign but not the broader effort to elect DeSantis. Both Abrams and Obenshain are expected to help an outside pro-DeSantis group.
But in a further indication that the campaign is looking to tighten its belt, the campaign is naming Carl Sceusa its chief financial officer. Sceusa is also serving as chief technology officer.
The campaign has made other staff changes in recent weeks. Ethan Eilon, the digital director, has been named deputy campaign manager. Cody Hall, a top political adviser to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, has been added as senior communications advisor. Andrew Romeo, who had been the campaign spokesperson, has been elevated to communications director.