Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced campaign manager Generra Peck with a trusted political adviser who has worked with him for years but has little campaign experience.
DeSantis handed the role over to James Uthmeier on Tuesday, pulling the staffer up from his original position as chief of staff to the DeSantis' gubernatorial office. The change, confirmed by Fox News Digital, is the latest in a weekslong "reload" of the DeSantis campaign amid disappointing poll numbers in the 2024 GOP primary race.
While Peck will stay on with the campaign as chief strategist, the move comes just weeks after top DeSantis campaign and outside advisers insisted that Peck’s job as manager was safe.
"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," campaign Communications Director Andrew Romeo told Fox in a statement. "David Polyansky will also be a critical addition to the team given his presidential campaign experience in Iowa and work at Never Back Down. We are excited about these additions as we continue to spread the governor's message across the country. It's time to reverse our nation's decline and revive America's future."
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Critics have pointed to the recent staff shakeups as evidence of a collapsing campaign, but Uthmeier insists DeSantis still "knows how to win."
"People have written Governor DeSantis’s obituary many times," Uthmeier told The Messanger in a Tuesday statement. "From his race against establishment primary candidate Adam Putnam, to his victory over legacy media-favored candidate Andrew Gillum [in 2018], to his twenty point win over Charlie Crist [in 2022], Governor DeSantis has proven that he knows how to win. He’s breaking records on fundraising and has a supporting super PAC with $100 million in the bank and an incredible ground game. Get ready."
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Florida's 44-year-old governor saw his popularity soar among conservatives across the country over the past three years due to his forceful pushback against coronavirus pandemic restrictions and his aggressive actions as a culture warrior going after media, corporations and teachers’ unions. And DeSantis won an overwhelming 19-point gubernatorial re-election victory last November, amid a cycle where the GOP suffered some high-profile setbacks at the ballot box.
But DeSantis has suffered a series of setbacks the past two months, which triggered weeks negative stories spotlighting his campaign’s overspending, staff layoffs and downsizing, and other stumbles.
Former President Donald Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner in the GOP nomination race as he makes his third straight White House run, has expanded his large double-digit lead over DeSantis in numerous polls since the governor declared his candidacy two months ago. And Desantis' advantage over the rest of the large field of 2024 Republican presidential candidates has eroded since late spring.
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DeSantis raised an impressive $20.1 million during the first six weeks of his campaign. However, nearly half – $8.2 million – came in the first 24 hours after DeSantis declared his candidacy.
And peeking past the top lines, only a small percentage of the cash DeSantis raised came from donors contributing less than $200, with much of his fundraising coming from top-dollar donors, some of whom have now maxed out and are prevented by Federal Election Commission rules from giving further contributions to the governor. Trump, by comparison, saw the lion's share of his fundraising come from small-dollar, grassroots donations.
DeSantis has also been burning through his campaign coffers at a quicker rate than Trump. The governor’s campaign spent $7.9 million in half the time that Trump’s team shelled out $9.1 million.
The DeSantis campaign late last month told top financial contributors that a "reset" was underway. DeSantis officials acknowledged during a meeting with leading campaign donors and bundlers that they spent too much money since DeSantis launched his White House bid.
The past couple of weeks, a leaner DeSantis campaign has been holding smaller events, many of which are being organized by Never Back Down, the super PAC that's supporting the governor's 2024 White House run and which has taken over many of the tradition roles that a campaign normally conducts.
Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor and bundler who's supporting DeSantis, told Fox News on Tuesday that the Florida governor's "trying change the dynamics. That much is clear. This is a realignment rather than a reset because both folks were already senior advisors."
And Eberhart emphasized that DeSantis "'great American comeback' needs to start with the campaign."
