TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he’s not supporting embattled Rep. Cory Mills in next week’s Republican primary, adding a prominent name to the list of GOP officials who have rejected Mills’ reelection bid.
DeSantis was asked about Mills during a visit to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, which is close to Florida’s 7th Congressional District.
He gave a blunt, succinct answer: “I have not endorsed Cory Mills and I do not support Cory Mills.”
DeSantis, who has declined to opine on most of the primary races on Tuesday’s ballot, did not explain his reasoning or offer his endorsement to anyone challenging Mills.
Mills, who is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, is running against three other Republicans including former local news anchor Ryan Elijah. In an unusual move, two incumbent Florida GOP House members — Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos — endorsed Elijah over Mills earlier this month.
The comments from DeSantis come days after President Donald Trump amplified his endorsements of numerous Florida Republicans via social media but omitted Mills, the only incumbent member of Congress running in the state that the president failed to mention. Trump originally backed Mills in February.
DeSantis and Mills are not close, and Mills backed Trump over DeSantis when Florida’s governor mounted his own presidential run. DeSantis talked to Mills when Florida’s U.S. Senate seat was vacant after Trump appointed Marco Rubio as secretary of State. Before DeSantis selected Ashley Moody to fill the spot, Mills told reporters in early 2025 that he intended to mount a primary against whoever the governor selected.
Since that time, Mills has become immersed in a string of incidents, including the House probe and a judge issuing a restraining order against him after his former girlfriend accused him of threatening to release sexually-explicit videos of her. The Republican has denied wrongdoing in all cases.
Mills has banked on Trump’s endorsement to carry him past the primary. But even some of his longtime friends and associates are keeping their distance. This week, Rep. Byron Donalds, the GOP frontrunner to succeed DeSantis, sidestepped a question about whether he wanted Mills to win or what he thought about the endorsements of Luna and Haridopolos.
“That’s now in the hands of the voters in CD 7,” Donalds said during a Crawfordville campaign stop in north Florida.
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