Weekly political notes from The News Service of Florida
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, as he started a campaign to return to the Legislature this week, wasn’t ready to say whether his son would run for governor in 2026, as speculation swirls about a possible bid by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Instead, the elder Gaetz said his son has a congressional re-election campaign to run in 2024 while focusing on budget and term-limit issues.
Matt Gaetz also has been busy after forcing a vote Tuesday to oust California Republican Kevin McCarthy as U.S. House speaker.
“Things can change in politics, and you know, anybody who thinks that they’re going to be governor a year or two before the election is usually not going to be the candidate for governor,” said Don Gaetz, who served in the state Senate from 2006 to 2016 and plans to run next year in Northwest Florida’s Senate District 1.
Besides, Don Gaetz anticipates a potentially crowded Republican field for governor in 2026. Among the numerous names floating around are Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, Attorney General Ashley Moody, state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.
“There are a lot of people who are good prospective gubernatorial candidates; all three of our Cabinet members, two or three of our members of Congress. The lieutenant governor. I think we have a lot of good governor candidates and I sure hope that they will all, you know, get their foot in the race and give us choices,” he said.
‘FAILURE THEATER’
As he campaigns for president, Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly voiced support for McCarthy’s ouster while also knocking former President Donald Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner..
“I opposed McCarthy when it wasn’t cool years ago, and he’s really somebody that Donald Trump has backed and put into that position,” DeSantis said Tuesday in an interview posted online by his “rapid response team.”
“I think they’ve not delivered results…The contrast between Florida delivering results and what you have in Washington is typically failure theater,” DeSantis said.
Before getting elected governor, DeSantis served in Congress with McCarthy.
MONEY GAME
Addressing his colleagues on the House floor Tuesday amid the McCarthy drama, Gaetz defended “asking patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight.”
“I’ll be happy to fund my political operation through the work of hard-working Americans $10 and $20 and $30 at a time. And you all keep showing up at the lobbyists’ fundraisers and see how that goes for you,” Gaetz said.
Meanwhile, Democrats were quick to make their own fundraising pitch after Gaetz helped engineer McCarthy’s removal.
Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried announced a “Goodbye Gaetz Fund” that seeks to capitalize on the congressman’s “political stunts.”
“The people of the Panhandle elected Matt Gaetz to represent them, but the only person he cares about representing is himself,” Fried said in a fundraising email. “He trafficks in disruption and dysfunction not because it helps his district, but because that’s how he gets attention from the media.”
TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
The “Enterprise” era of Space Florida docked Friday, with a new, leaner crew overseeing the aerospace agency.
Lawmakers this spring passed a measure (HB 7041) that reduced the number of Space Florida board members from 13 to nine and changed the qualifications for board members.
Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who along with three other board members were reappointed by DeSantis under the new configuration, said Friday she hoped the changes won’t alter efforts that have cemented “Florida as not only the launch capital of the world, but also the premier destination for all our aerospace activity.”
“We’ve watched in the last several years over 185 rocket missions launched from Florida Space Coast, and truly just the future for Florida and space is so bright,” Nuñez said during a teleconference meeting.
“We’ve talked a bit about how it’s on pace to be a multitrillion-dollar industry in the coming years,” Nuñez added. “We’ve talked about how we want to not only diversify our portfolio from launches, but obviously manufacturing, research, national defense and with the onset of Space Force and the STARCOM headquarters, I really am excited about the future of Space Florida.”
SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE WEEK: “Is (U.S. Rep. Matt) Gaetz secretly an agent for the Democratic Party? No one else is doing as much to undermine, weaken and cripple the House GOP.” — former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) on X, formerly known as Twitter.