Ron DeSantis' campaign has let more staffers go, its size now reduced by more than a third since its launch two months ago. Politico reports that the latest cuts bring the total number of staffers canned to 38, including cuts announced earlier this month. Aides say cuts were made across all departments in the campaign, which started out with around 90 employees. "We were just bloated. We had too many people, that's absolutely fair to say," an adviser tells NBC News. The campaign is planning a reboot after a rocky start, and the team stressed that it would take a "leaner, meaner" approach at a donors' retreat in Utah over the weekend, CNN reports.
"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," Generra Peck, DeSantis' campaign manager, said in a statement. DeSantis, she said "is going to lead the Great American Comeback and we are ready to hit the ground running as we head into an important month of the campaign." During the donor retreat, Peck admitted that the campaign had overspent in some areas, Politico reports. Advisers said changes would include smaller events and a reduction in travel costs. (DeSantis was uninjured in an accident involving his four-car motorcade Tuesday.)