Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently replaced his campaign manager in what has become a month of complete and utter political shakeups ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
DeSantis replaced his current campaign manager, Generra Peck, with James Uthmeier, while David Polyansky, a senior adviser to the pro-DeSantis super PAC “Never Back Down,” will become the deputy campaign manager to his campaign.
Uthmeier, the chief of staff from his state office, has been considered a trusted adviser to DeSantis for years and is expected to work alongside Peck, who is staying on as a chief strategist. Peck previously served as DeSantis’ campaign manager for his 2022 reelection bid, in which he won by 20 points.
“James Uthmeier has been one of Governor DeSantis’ top advisors for years and he is needed where it matters most: working hand in hand with Generra Peck and the rest of the team to put the governor in the best possible position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden,” said Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for DeSantis.
The latest rendition of political musical chairs marks the third time DeSantis opted to reshuffle his 2024 campaign. In the first six weeks of his campaign, the Florida governor managed to burn through $7.9 million of his campaign funds. Then, in mid-July, DeSantis fired about a third of his staff, axing to a total of 38 jobs.
Throwing a wrench into the campaign, it was also revealed late Sunday that DeSantis’ biggest campaign donor pulled back on his funding due to the governor’s “extremist” views, particularly on issues surrounding abortion.
According to a campaign insider who spoke to media on condition of anonymity, the shift in campaign managers was “no surprise” and “should have happened weeks ago.”
Another person close to the campaign added that Uthmeier had the “trust” of DeSantis and his wife, and was well regarded by the campaign staff, while Peck had “lost [the] confidence” of the team. It was noted that while Uthmeier will take on the “CEO” role of the campaign, he will rely heavily on Polyansky as well as Marc Reichelderfer, an experienced political consultant from Tallahassee, Florida.
However, it's reported the shakeup may scare off more of DeSantis’ backers. One fundraiser voiced concern with Uthmeier’s inexperience, according to one report: "You've got to know the basics of politics, the speed at which politics goes compared to government. Two different worlds," the fundraiser said.
"The timing is so bizarre," they added, referring to DeSantis’ busy campaign schedule, as the governor was working his way through Iowa and New Hampshire around the same time as the campaign shift. "The campaign is sort of believing the narrative that others are saying, that we're not in a good spot. We're in a great spot. That's why this change today to me is [an] overreaction and it shows they're reading Twitter too much or following the insider beltway."
Even as former President Donald Trump battles three criminal indictments, with more on the way, DeSantis has struggled to appeal to both Trump loyalists as well as more moderate Republicans.
“I feel like Republicans want an alternative to Trump and DeSantis was sort of it — and then they made a summary judgment that, no, it’s not him,” said Rick Tyler, an experienced Republican strategist who once worked on presidential campaigns.
“[DeSantis] is clearly an intelligent person,” Tyler added. “But he has no idea how to run for president and no idea how to beat Trump because treating Trump as unexploded ordnance doesn’t work. We know that doesn’t work.”
A recent poll showed Republican voters view Trump, not DeSantis, as the stronger GOP candidate to face off against US President Joe Biden, and as the Republican candidate who is more likely to “get things done” once in office.