Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest, I’m Tara Palmeri. Tonight, a close look at the newly shuffled cast of characters atop the DeSantis campaign: Media attention has coalesced around the 35-year-old, untested campaign manager James Uthemier—but the more intriguing addition could very well be David Polyansky, the longtime Jeff Roe consiglieri who was transplanted from the outside super PAC. Plus, a divorce between a D.C. power couple that could leave DeSantis’s voter data at risk.

But first…

• Changing the Subject: Back in April, I wrote a short item on a cluster of layoffs at Subject Matter, Steve Elmendorf’s powerhouse lobbying shop, including the exit of Elmendorf’s right-hand woman of 16 years, Shanti Stanton, a former Pelosi aide. At the time Audrey Chang, a spokesperson for the firm, told me that Subject Matter was actually expanding. After all, she noted, the firm had just received an influx of cash from private equity firm Coral Street Partners, reflecting the sector’s growing interest in K Street. “Our intention remains to grow the firm,” Chang said, speaking on behalf of Elmendorf.

  Well, I’ve recently learned there was a second round of layoffs in June: An additional 14 people were let go after Subject Matter merged with strategic advisor Kivvit, a combination consummated in May. Chang was among those who exited. Now, Stanton and Chang are teaming up, alleging that Elmendorf created a “sexually charged environment” at the firm and engaged in gender discrimination, according to multiple people with knowledge of their pending legal claims. Speaking for Elmendorf, Subject Matter C.E.O. Nicole Cornish told me, “We are proud our firm fosters a culture of respect, remains committed to creating an inclusive workplace and dispute any claim stating otherwise.” Stanton and Chang declined to comment.

And now for Abby’s congressional roll call…

By Abby Livingston

• Savage Politics: One of the more interesting House races is the contest to succeed Adam Schiff in California’s 30th. Several locally known players have jumped into the fray for the all-but-determinative Democratic primary in the district that represents the heart of the entertainment industry: West Hollywood, Hollywood, and Burbank. The best known national name in the mix, though, is Ben Savage, the star of the ’90s TGIF staple, Boy Meets World. Savage’s recent campaign finance report indicated that he is largely self-funding the campaign since its March launch.

  Savage has thus far loaned his campaign $877,000 in personal money, rather than spending a great deal of time rounding up donations. He is, however, getting by with a little help from his older brother, Wonder Years star Fred Savage, who donated north of $1,000. Three names not on Savage’s campaign finance report? His former co-stars Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong, who say Savage ghosted them in recent years.

• Lake Gets a Double: Should Kari Lake follow through on a Senate run, she will not disqualify herself to also run for vice president—a scenario frequently batted around informally in conversations about a putative Trump-led ticket. Each state has different rules regarding whether a candidate can appear on a ballot twice, typically an issue when a politician is up for re-election in the same year that he or she might appear on the presidential ballot. Per the Arizona Secretary of State’s office, candidates may appear twice on the ballot thanks to a clause colloquially named for the late John McCain. This hypothetical, however, would make for a strange summer next year: In theory, Lake would secure the party’s V.P. nod ahead of winning the Republican Senate primary. The G.O.P’s presidential nominating convention will take place in mid-July, while the Arizona primary is set for Aug. 6.
• Manchin on Manchin : Joe Manchin said in an interview with Hoppy Kercheval, West Virginia’s most politically influential radio host, that he is “very seriously” considering becoming an independent. “I’ve been thinking about that for quite some time,” he said. “I haven’t made any decisions.” CNN’s Manu Raju points out that if Manchin continued to caucus with the Democrats, the party would hold onto Senate control. But should he opt to go completely independent, he would lose his gavel as Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman—a big deal for a state economy dependent on coal.

What does it all mean? Dysfunction, of course, and perhaps what the press corps has been saying all along, for years: DeSantis isn’t ready for primetime. So much for the hopes and dreams among donors for a no-drama Trump alternative. Incredibly, the third DeSantis reboot is starting to make Trump’s campaign look comparatively drama-free, except for the weekly ritual of fresh indictments.

Uthmeier, after all, does not espouse the ethos of the normie Never Trumper that donors desire in DeSantis, nor does DeSantis pollster Ryan Tyson, who was also elevated amid the shakeup. Both are “hardcore zealots” and “anti-abortion right wingers,” according to my go-to Florida whisperer Peter Schorsch. According to the National Review, the two engineered the Martha’s Vineyard migrant stunt, among others. But Uthmeier and Tyson are also trusted DeSantis loyalists, as was Peck, suggesting once again that the key qualification to lead the DeSantis campaign is fidelity to Ron and Casey. (Schorsch, who has been working in Tallahassee for decades, offered an additional theory: “They haven’t been able to get national people to sign on, that’s why they signed on a bunch of Florida people.”)

Anyway, I’m less interested in the elevation of solicitous Tallhassee novices than what this latest shakeup means for the outside battle for control between Phil Cox’s umbrella firm GP3, the Peck-linked political consortium that has been advising the campaign, and Jeff Roe’s consulting juggernaut Axiom Strategies. Peck’s demotion to chief strategist effectively lowers Cox’s status to just “friend of the campaign,” I’ve been told. Meanwhile, Roe’s longtime consiglieri, David Polyansky, 52, has been transplanted from the outside super PAC into the campaign as deputy manager. A shift that—given his age, years of experience, and knowledge of the new Iowa strategy—suggests that he is the real de facto campaign manager, the one running point while the Tallahassee crew coddles Ron and Casey and keeps the team organized.

The Axiom juggernaut, it appears, is slowly expanding its influence beyond Roe’s super PAC, Never Back Down, toward the campaign itself. Before Polyansky’s entry there was only one more junior Axiom associate, Sam Cooper, working directly for DeSantis. That seems likely to change, and fast. “This is absolutely Roe’s campaign now,” Schorsch told me. “He’s 95 percent in charge. He started at 40 percent, when Cox was still around, now he has majority control of the stock.”

I’ve known Polyansky for many years, and it’s hard to find a negative thing said about him. Like Roe, he has spent the past decade ascending from a regional operative to a national political influencer. He shepherded Joni Ernst’s winning Senate campaign and briefly worked as Cruz’s Senate chief of staff after the 2016 election. Even Trump’s spokesperson, Jason Miller, who worked with Polyansky on the Cruz 2016 campaign, could only say nice things about him. “Smart guy, knows Iowa, very good operator. Just one problem,” he told me.

Sure, Polyansky isn’t entirely truthful when he boasts that he’s never lost Iowa: Scott Walker flamed out long before he got to Des Moines, and Polyansky left Michele Bachmann’s campaign before she came in sixth place. But he nevertheless brings with him an understanding of the Iowa caucus process and an umbilical political brainwave with Roe, who is not allowed to coordinate with the campaign from the super PAC. It’s clear that Polyansky has already aligned with Roe on a Cruz 2.0 strategy—shaking hands in all 99 counties, raising as much cash as possible, investing in a caucus plan, training volunteers and staying low to the ground. This promise was made to donors two weeks ago in Utah. As a Cruz alum put it: “David Polyansky is an absolutely full fledged Jeff Roe disciple, no question.” One G.O.P. strategist noted to me, “A lot of people have assumed that Roe would eventually move over— this is not that much different.”

And that, some surmise, might still happen. The Cruz alum told me to beware of a full Axiom takeover, one that could possibly lead to Roe moving to the top of the campaign pyramid, even as his firm is still reaping the financial rewards on the super PAC side. (It’s legal to move from the PAC to the campaign, though not the reverse.)

“This is a classic way that Axiom takes over campaigns,” the Cruz alum said. “If they can’t get the general consultant role, they get in, and say ‘We don’t want to run the campaign, we just want to do a mailer’ and then they go down the list and they find a need—a digital vendor, fundraising, compliance, door knockers, opposition research—and then they put someone in there, because they have so much under their umbrella. Then they’ll hear of another opening and try to get someone even more senior in there and then they metastasize from there.”

So far, the DeSantis super PAC has paid Wilson’s polling firm WPA Intel $1.5 million. As with everything, Axiom has a stake in WPA Intel, although they downplayed it to the Times in a story about how the super PAC burned through $34 million with most of the money going to Axiom or its connected vendors. The Wilson civil suit has been raging since December 2021, but there’s another court date next week, and a source familiar with the situation expects it will be wrapped up before the election. Meanwhile, what will WPA Intel do without its software, and will this impact the data that they’ve already collected for DeSantis? Wilson did not address these issues when I asked about the implications of the suit. “We trust the process toward resolving the issues in this case will continue with respect and dignity,” his lawyer Cheryl Plaxico said in a statement. “Coverage sensationalizing these matters is not helpful.”

As for Roe, for now he may be happier on the cash-flush outside looking in, as his firm Axiom reaps the rewards of running the DeSantis super PAC, even as their candidate slides in the polls. But Roe, like so many others in D.C., has long dreamed of flipping a managerial role on a winning campaign into a chief of staff job in the White House. Last year, he told me that he’d be honored to work on either a Glenn Youngkin or Ted Cruz campaign. “It’s a goal of mine to try to get someone elected to the White House,” he said. “I’ve been trying for a couple decades now.”