David Polyansky, previously an adviser to the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, will become deputy campaign manager, officials said, while Ryan Tyson — a senior adviser who also worked on DeSantis’s gubernatorial reelection — and Florida operative Marc Reichelderfer will take on elevated roles.
These moves are the latest of many shake-ups for a candidate who began the year with sky-high expectations, widely considered Trump’s most formidable rival, but who has lost ground in national and statewide polling. An official launch in late May did not turn things around. As the campaign cut staff in two rounds last month, advisers declared that the campaign was undergoing a “reset” that would involve reducing event and travel costs and leaning into an “underdog” mentality.
Many staffers and allies believed Peck’s job to be safe despite the turmoil. But the governor recently asked Uthmeier, who already had been helping the campaign raise money, to assess the operation’s problems, officials said.
Uthmeier joined the governor’s office in 2019 as deputy general counsel and became chief of staff in October 2021.
“James Uthmeier has been one of Governor DeSantis’ top advisers 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 campaign communications director Andrew Romeo said in a statement that also called David Polyansky “a critical addition to the team given his presidential campaign experience in Iowa and work at Never Back Down.”
Alex Kelly, Florida’s commerce secretary, will replace Uthmeier as chief of staff in the governor’s office.
Marianne Levine contributed to this report.
