Several Jeb Bush campaign workers are already shopping their résumés with Florida political consultants as expectations mount inside his team that their candidate won’t push on after South Carolina.

“I can unequivocally tell you that people are looking for work, because they say they’ve been led to believe that they won’t have a job because the campaign won’t be around any longer or their jobs won’t because the campaign won’t have any money,” said one Republican who helps run one of the Florida campaigns and who is a Bush donor.


Four separate and senior political consultants in Florida said they have been negotiating with potential employees who are preparing for the end of the Bush campaign. The entreaties for new work from these Bush staffers — most of whom are not top-level campaign hands — have markedly increased apace with signs that the former Florida governor is under pressure to exit the race after Saturday’s GOP primary if he performs poorly.

“I have people in [Marco] Rubio’s campaign and various campaigns I talk to and said ‘Hey, if it doesn’t work out for you, come and work for us,’” said one of the consultants. “Suddenly in the past week, I’m getting calls and they’re asking me: ‘Are you looking for somebody?’ And those people are exclusively Jeb people.”

The only consultant who would speak on the record, West Palm Beach’s Randy Nielsen, is a Rubio supporter who is involved in a variety of legislative and local campaigns. He said via text message that Bush campaign workers are a sought-after commodity because “he has some talented folks on his team. A lot of people will sign them up in a NY minute.”

“Staffers are floating résumés now. We’ve been contacted by several. People have gotta eat, you know?” Nielsen said.

Whether it’s rooted in clear-eyed reality or just fear of reading bad headlines, the concern of some of these Bush staffers as they talk to other Republicans outside of the campaign feeds the background noise about the campaign being imminently in peril.

In response to POLITICO’s report, Bush told FOX’s Megyn Kelly on Friday night: “I don't read Politico. I think it's trash.” He didn’t deny the substance of the report.

After the Politico story posted, a Washington-based Republican involved with multiple GOP races called to say that the phenomenon is not limited to Florida. A Bush staffer had approached his group in search of work, starting as soon as next week.

Bush and his campaign have consistently reminded the public, press and his own supporters that he’s in it for the long haul and that some polls show he’s doing relatively well in the Palmetto State. And on Friday, in the face of persistent questions about his post-South Carolina plans, the Bush team released a schedule of events in Nevada on Sunday and Monday.

“Jeb Bush is in an incredibly competitive position heading into the last 24 hours heading into South Carolina,” said spokeswoman Kristy Campbell. “He’s running hard and running to win. We are competitive in major polls over the past 48 to 72 hours and in the margin of error for second or third place here. After having come off a surprise victory over Marco Rubio in New Hampshire, we look forward to campaigning in Nevada, where Gov. Bush heads on Sunday after South Carolina. And we have organizations built out through the March states and beyond.”

Indeed, the distance between Bush and Rubio is small in some polls, while others show Rubio ahead by a larger margin.

In the average of South Carolina polls taken since the New Hampshire primary, Rubio pulls 17 percent support and is essentially tied with second-place Ted Cruz, who has 18 percent. Bush trails with 11 percent and is almost tied with fourth-place John Kasich, who stands at 10 percent and hasn’t put much effort into the state. Two of the last three polls, released on Friday, showed Rubio in second place with support in the low 20s and leading Bush by a margin of 13 percentage points.

Donald Trump dominates in first place, with 34 percent in the polling averages.

“The people who work in the campaign business aren’t stupid. They can read the polls,” said a third Republican consultant who backs Rubio and is involved with another Florida campaign. “A month ago, we had conversations with people and no one was interested. Now they are. They’re calling us asking ‘Hey, want to talk? I think I’m going to be free on Monday.’ All those people work for Jeb.”

Nielsen said the calls picked up Wednesday after Rubio was endorsed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and basked in the glow of positive press while Bush was nagged by headlines that he had wanted her support and was “disappointed.”

A fourth Republican consultant who is neutral in the race and is involved with multiple Florida campaigns says he heard from two job seekers who want to line up something to start in the next week. “I get the sense the existing campaigns are not absorbing many people from the remains and being the guy who attacked all the other campaigns is hurting folks.”

