DeSantis Flies Private Jet Amid Staff Layoffs and Promises Of ‘Leaner’ Campaign To Donors

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GOP presidential hopeful and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) flew on a private jet to raise money from donors in Tennessee amid reports of widespread staff layoffs and promises of a “leaner” campaign.

Earlier this week, the campaign laid off 38 staffers from a variety of different departments, including senior staffers such as Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain. Moreover, the governor’s campaign has struggled to reassure anxious donors amid his stagnating poll numbers against former President Donald Trump in swing states.

Despite reports of his campaign’s new frugality, DeSantis flew on multiple trips on a private planes across Tennessee earlier this week, according to the New York Times.

On Tuesday, he flew multiple trips on private planes to fund-raisers around Tennessee. The private flights help explain part of how the campaign has burned through cash in its first six weeks. His campaign’s first report showed that he had spent $179,000 in chartered plane costs, as well as $483,000 to a limited liability company for “travel.”

The outlet also reports that DeSantis and his wife have not flown commercial for a number of years. However, the couple will travel across Iowa via bus starting Thursday to “to show off a leaner, hungrier operation, several donors and allies remained skeptical about whether the governor could right the ship.”

While rival candidates such as Nikki Haley and Tim Scott fly commercial, the DeSantis campaign has spent $1.5 million over the last six weeks on travel, accounting for 20% of its total spending in the second quarter, according to the Washington Post.

Per WaPo, before launching his presidential campaign, DeSantis has relied on donors to provide him with private jets to fly in and out of Florida.

DeSantis has come under scrutiny because of his reliance on donors to provide private planes, sometimes from those with business before his administration. Former aides said that DeSantis almost never flew commercial, and that his team was responsible for finding private jets to ferry him to events inside and outside of Florida throughout his time as governor. His team in the past had kept a list of donors who were willing to regularly let DeSantis use their planes, and among the most prominent was Mori Hosseini, whose plane has been used by DeSantis and his wife on at least 12 occasions.

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