Desantis shifts from New Hampshire

HAMPTON, N.H. >> Ron Desantis has decided to shift his presidential campaign away from New Hampshire just six days before the state’s first-in-the-nation Republican primary while his leading super PAC executes another round of layoffs, moves that reflect the Florida governor’s rapidly shrinking path to the 2024 GOP nomination.

Desantis won’t ignore the state completely over the coming days, but he’s reallocating the majority of his staff to South Carolina, the home state of rival Nikki Haley, with its primary in just over a month. That’s according to senior campaign officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.

At the same time, the pro-desantis super PAC Never Back Down has transferred several of its Iowa staffers to other early states, while laying off the rest. It’s unclear exactly how many people were laid off, although a super PAC official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy said those who lost their jobs would be paid through the end of January.

The strategic shifts by Desantis’ operation underscore his weakness in the 2024 Republican nomination race after he finished a distant second to frontrunner Donald Trump in Iowa’s caucuses Monday. Desantis had made Iowa the centerpiece of his White House bid, yet Trump bested him by 30 percentage points there. Haley finished 2 percentage points behind Desantis.

Trump appears to be tightening his grip on the GOP nomination, although he could be vulnerable in New Hampshire’s Tuesday primary. A Cnn/university of New Hampshire poll conducted this month found that about 4 in 10 likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire chose Trump.