Former Trump campaign leaders say DeSantis has ‘candidate problem’

Two former top officials on former President Trump’s 2020 White House campaign said on a new podcast that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has a “candidate problem” he needs to address in the 2024 primary.

Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien and deputy campaign chief and attorney Justin Clark launched a new podcast through their consulting firm, National Public Affairs, on which they opined about DeSantis’s struggles trying to cut into Trump’s polling lead.

“Campaigns take a lot of blame, you know, during times like this. But I got to say … candidates matter,” Stepien said.

“And I think, at this point, at this stage in the primary, the candidate matters more now than at any point over the next year and a half. Because right now it is hand-to-hand combat on the ground,” he continued. “It is shaking hands at county fairs in Iowa, it is sitting in living rooms in New Hampshire. The candidate matters. And I think there’s a candidate problem for Ron DeSantis.” 

“There’s a major candidate problem,” Clark said. “He’s got to fix that. He’s got to do something to engage with people. And I’m talking about policies.” 

Clark and Stepien suggested DeSantis needs to “lean into policy” more to engage with voters on issues they care about. They also pointed to the first GOP primary debate in August as a pivotal moment for DeSantis to connect with the electorate.

Clark and Stepien worked on Trump’s White House campaigns in 2016 and 2020, but neither is working on a presidential campaign during the 2024 cycle.

DeSantis coasted to reelection last November and launched his presidential campaign in May at a time when he was widely viewed as the most viable challenger to Trump in a primary.

But he has struggled to narrow Trump’s lead in the polls, and his campaign last week let go of a handful of employees as part of a staffing shake-up.

DeSantis raised $20 million in the second quarter after only being in the race for six weeks, according to his Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing, the second-biggest haul among Republican candidates, behind only Trump.

But NBC News reported the governor spent $7.9 million in the first six weeks of his campaign.

DeSantis has recently turned his sights on early primary and caucus states, spending the last two days campaigning in Iowa. His team believes he is gaining momentum in the Hawkeye State, particularly after Trump attacked Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) and skipped a major evangelical gathering this week.