DeSantis swaps campaign management with key ally in latest shakeup

The Ron Reshuffle rolls on.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has replaced his embattled campaign manager Generra Peck with his gubernatorial chief of staff, James Uthmeier, a rep told The Post Tuesday.

Peck, who oversaw DeSantis’ landslide gubernatorial re-election last year, will stay on as the campaign’s chief strategist, the spokesperson added.

Rumors had long swirled that DeSantis allies and donors were pressuring the campaign to replace Peck over concerns about bloated staff numbers and management issues.

In recent weeks, the campaign has laid off dozens of staffers, seeking to make its operations leaner as it scrambles to gain ground on former President Donald Trump. The Messenger first reported on the latest change.

“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 The Post.

Uthmeier, a former Senate staffer who came to DeSantis’ administration after a stint in the Trump administration’s Commerce Department, is widely seen as one of the governor’s closest confidants.

He will be joined with new deputy campaign manager David Polyansky, an Iowa operative who had been an adviser to the DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down Super PAC.

“Polyansky will also be a critical addition to the team given his presidential campaign experience in Iowa and work at Never Back Down,” Romeo said. “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.”

DeSantis allies have bristled at media narratives of a campaign “reboot,” but the governor himself has acknowledged that his operations have been revamped.

“That’s a process part, that’s not about message and that’s not about getting out there with voters,” DeSantis recently told journalist Megyn Kelly when asked about a reset.

“That’s about how you’re applying resources to the campaign headquarters versus the early states, so that’s been taken care of,” DeSantis stressed.

Amid efforts to overhaul the campaign’s operations, DeSantis asked Uthmeier to diagnosis financial issues, according to The Messenger. Peck had also offered to stepped down entirely, but Florida first lady Casey DeSantis wanted to keep her on board, per the report.

In recent weeks, DeSantis has also moved to broaden his national media presence, doing a sit-down interview with NBC that aired Monday after giving an interview to CNN’s Jake Tapper last month.

Currently, DeSantis trails Trump by 38 percentage points in the latest RealClearPolitics average of national Republican primary voter preference.

DeSantis, who touts his record of triumphing as a political underdog in the past, recently racked up some key endorsement flips.

New Hampshire State Rep. Jordan Ulrey recently moved his stamp of approval from Trump to DeSantis, bringing the governor’s Granite State endorsement count up to around 70 top officials.

Additionally, GOP mega donor Harold Hamm, who has backed Trump in the past, hosted a dinner for DeSantis Monday evening.