DeSantis Demotes Campaign Manager as Polling Numbers Drop

DES MOINES, Iowa – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has demoted the manager of his 2024 presidential campaign, as his polling numbers have faded in recent weeks. DeSantis, once polling neck-and-neck with former President Donald Trump in several states, is now well behind. Generra Peck has served as DeSantis’ campaign manager in the first few months of his campaign, which was kicked off in late May. Though Peck has now been demoted from the campaign manager role, he will stay with the campaign in a strategist role. Peck’s replacement will be James Uthmeier, who has been serving as DeSantis’ Chief of Staff in Tallahassee since 2021. Prior to that, Uthmeier was DeSantis’ General Counsel since 2019. Florida Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly will become Acting Chief of Staff in Uthmeier’s absence. The campaign’s staffing change comes as they’re observed undergoing something of a ‘reboot’, changing up the strategy that has so far fallen short of capitalizing on DeSantis’ sky-high expectations coming into primary season. The governor currently trails ex-President Donald Trump in most primary state polls, despite multiple criminal indictments on Trump in recent months. The latest polling is also showing DeSantis being caught up to by candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur with no prior political experience.