Recap and analysis of the week in state government and politics
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida.
TALLAHASSEE — President-elect Donald Trump looked to his adopted home state as he quickly started to fill in his administration, with Floridians drawing key appointments and some gasps.
Susie Wiles, who directed Trump’s campaign and is one of the most-respected operatives in Florida, was named White House chief of staff.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Miami-Dade County Republican and former Florida House speaker, was nominated for secretary of state.
Northeast Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, R-Fla., will serve as Trump’s national security adviser.
And Panhandle Republican Matt Gaetz, who in recent years became a national political lightning rod as he served in Congress, was picked as Trump’s attorney general.
“Many of us would argue that the nation has been broken for a couple of years, and Florida has been working,” Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power said. “So, now we get to put Floridians to work to fix our country. That makes us excited. Anytime you have one of your own team in that kind of leadership capacity, it brings a lot of excitement.”
Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried had a different take on it.
“Donald Trump is raiding our state for any Florida Man loyal to him, no matter how incompetent, unqualified, or extreme they may be,” Fried said in a statement.
While more Floridians could be tapped by Trump, not everyone got what they wanted this week.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., lost his bid Wednesday to become Senate majority leader, with GOP lawmakers choosing Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. And North Central Florida Congresswoman Kat Cammack lost her attempt to become House Republican Conference chairwoman, with U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan selected instead.
MUSICAL CHAIRS
While on an economic development mission in Italy, Gov. Ron DeSantis directed Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd “to formulate and announce a schedule for the upcoming special elections immediately” to replace Gaetz and Waltz.
Congressional District 1 in the Panhandle and Waltz’s District 6 are Republican strongholds, and speculation quickly built about potential candidates. As of early Friday afternoon, special election dates had not been announced.
Meanwhile, DeSantis will name a Rubio replacement who will serve until an election is held in 2026.
Names mentioned for the Senate seat have included Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, former Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva, U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee and James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ chief of staff.
Scott, who has never had a warm relationship with DeSantis, on Thursday started pushing Lara Trump, the president-elect’s daughter-in-law and Republican National Committee co-chair, for the Senate seat.
Uthmeier also is among the names being circulated as a possible candidate to replace Gaetz. Others include state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and state Rep. Joel Rudman, R-Navarre.
PARTISAN STORM
Moody filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the Federal Emergency Management Agency violated the civil rights of Trump supporters in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Fort Pierce, followed reports that a FEMA supervisor directed aid workers to avoid going to homes in Lake Placid that had yard signs supporting Trump.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell issued a statement last week that said the supervisor had been fired, calling the direction to avoid homes with Trump yard signs “reprehensible.”
But Moody’s lawsuit, which names as defendants Criswell and the fired supervisor, Marn’i Washington, alleges that a conspiracy existed that violated the rights of Trump supporters. Citing a story in the Washington Examiner, the lawsuit quotes Washington as saying she was a “patsy” and was made a “scapegoat” by FEMA.
The lawsuit seeks damages and a declaration that the defendants “conspired to interfere with the civil rights of Trump supporters in Florida” in violation of a federal law.
In the statement last week, Criswell said agency employees “adhere to FEMA’s core values and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors.”
“Recently, one FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump,” the statement said. “This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. This was reprehensible.”
TOURIST DRAW
Despite the state taking hits from two hurricanes in August and September, Visit Florida on Tuesday estimated 34.61 million people traveled to Florida during the third quarter of 2024, up from 33.995 million during the same period in 2023 and 34.551 million in 2022.
The numbers were bolstered by U.S. visitors. But while this year’s visitor totals from overseas and Canada are higher than in 2023 and 2022, they have not returned to levels from 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic slammed the tourism industry in early 2020.
STORY OF THE WEEK: President-elect Donald Trump picked prominent Floridians for key roles in his administration.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Under Matt’s leadership, all Americans will be proud of the Department of Justice once again,” President-elect Donald Trump, on his appointment of Panhandle Republican Matt Gaetz as U.S. attorney general.