Taking questions from network correspondents. Holding informal press gaggles. Engaging with reporters behind the scenes. It’s all standard practice for a presidential operation. But not, until recently, for Ron DeSantis.
In the past few weeks, the slumping DeSantis campaign has undergone a much-discussed “reset,” which has included reallocating resources and cutting staff. A new press strategy involving more mainstream media interviews was also said to be part of the reboot, a significant departure for the Florida governor better known for bashing the news media and turning to friendly conservative outlets. Reporters on the trail with him say they’re seeing the strategy change in real time.
It’s been a “distinct shift,” said one, who noted that increased openness has been a topic of conversation among the campaign press corps. DeSantis’s team also appears to be engaging more with political reporters behind the scenes. “The campaign is now proactively trying to shape stories and spin on background. It sounds crazy, but they weren’t doing it before,” said a second reporter. Whereas there was essentially no communication at first, the DeSantis operation is now responding and interacting with them, even more so now than they were a few weeks ago, said another.
While appreciative of the shift, all of these reporters offer the caveat that this is basic stuff, and that the various DeSantis arms they’ve been dealing with—the pro-Desantis Super PAC Never Back Down arranged meet-and-greets open to the press in Iowa, while the campaign is handling things this week in New Hampshire—continue to manage his interactions tightly. The operation remains hyper sensitive to coverage, such as regarding the turnout of their events, one of the reporters said. And DeSantis himself remains combative toward the press, recently sparring in Iowa with a Washington Post reporter following a question about Florida’s widely criticized new Black history curriculum that highlights the “personal benefit[s]” of slavery. On Monday, he kicked off a press conference in New Hampshire by telling reporters, “You better ask an on-topic question, because I’m not answering anything that’s not about the economy.”
Never Back Down and the DeSantis campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
One DeSantis ally, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie, applauded DeSantis opening up more to the press, telling The Miami Herald on Monday that to now “go in front of the legacy, mainstream media, and do the long-form open interviews on camera” are “the right decisions.”
Shifting strategy may be helping DeSantis nab more headlines, but Donald Trump, his biggest rival, still dominates in the polls. Political reporters who cover DeSantis have discussed privately whether it’s too late. “They’ve dug themselves into a huge fucking hole,” said a fourth reporter. “I’m not sure if it’s not too late, but it pretty much makes clear that this is what they should have been doing all along and didn’t,” said a fifth reporter. “It might prove to be a fatal miscalculation for his campaign, but that’s assuming Trump was ever really beatable in a Republican primary.”
