ORLANDO, Florida — In the months and weeks ahead of Florida’s primaries, a big question among Republicans was simple: What will Ron DeSantis do?
DeSantis, who helped remold Florida from the nation’s largest swing state to one dominated by Republicans, stayed on the sidelines for the primary. He declined to endorse a successor, including his own hand-picked lieutenant governor who ran in the race, and even early on criticized Rep. Byron Donalds, who won the GOP primary for governor. DeSantis didn’t campaign for anyone and he also didn’t attend the traditional GOP post primary rally held this week, which the party uses to highlight their ticket to bolster their chances in November.
Before Tuesday, some Republican operatives wondered if the famously combative DeSantis — who has strained relationships with many GOP officials in the state — would just stay quiet until Election Day in November. But as he prepares to finally exit the stage from Florida’s political scene, there are now growing expectations that DeSantis will actively campaign and even raise money for GOP candidates up and down the ballot, all while reminding voters of his role in making the state a conservative bastion.
“The governor is a party guy, the governor knows how important this state is to the national discourse,” said Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, a longtime ally who was appointed to his post by DeSantis and will be on the November ballot himself. As for the lack of endorsement before the primary, Ingoglia said the governor “has been letting this play out.”
A sign of that emerged Thursday, when DeSantis reached out to Donalds, a call that the GOP nominee for governor acknowledged during the GOP rally. DeSantis also quickly endorsed and started touting Ryan Elijah, the former news anchor who ousted embattled incumbent Rep. Cory Mills.
The intrigue surrounding DeSantis comes as his next steps remain uncertain. When DeSantis ended his unsuccessful bid for president in early 2024, those in his immediate orbit considered a presidential run in 2028 a strong possibility. That talk has dimmed considerably given the attention focused on Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as possible successors to President Donald Trump. DeSantis, 47, has said publicly that he can wait beyond 2028 because he’s still relatively young.
One Florida Republican operative, granted anonymity to talk candidly, said if Trump throws his support to Vance or Rubio, then there isn’t a pathway for DeSantis. But he said that DeSantis can “get some credit on the way out” by helping Donalds and Florida Republicans.
“It would help him rebuild relationships some of which he doesn’t have right now,” said the operative.
That same operative added that he expects DeSantis to also help Republicans running for Congress this year especially since many of them are seeking office in districts put in place by the mid-decade redistricting map ushered in this year by the governor. That new map could net the state GOP as many as four additional seats and help Republicans retain control of the House.
Instead of helping Republicans during the primary, DeSantis spent the last few months focusing on his record after two terms and advocating for a couple of more policy wins before he departs Tallahassee in January. On primary day this week, with Republicans statewide frantically working to get out the vote, he held an hourlong roundtable in Sarasota on higher education, highlighting his push to challenge groups that handle university accreditation.
But one part of the DeSantis legacy — which he touted during his unsuccessful run for president in 2024 — has been transforming the state from one that was a perennial purple battleground into a ruby-red state that routinely votes Republican.
“No one’s worked harder to get Florida where we are politically than I have,” DeSantis said Wednesday at an Orlando event to tout cancer research funding. He further noted there were more active registered voters who were Democrats when he was first elected. Republicans now hold a 1.5 million voter registration edge. “These candidates have great opportunities that quite frankly we didn’t have when I was coming up,” he added. “I don’t think this is a competitive state.”
Back in April when DeSantis was asked if he would endorse Collins before the primary, the GOP governor said, “If I feel the need to do something, I do it.” He said at the time, “I think everybody knows that when I got something on my mind and I want people to know, then people know. We’re not going to be shy about anything.”
Early polling suggests that the governor’s race could be more competitive than conventional wisdom would suggest in a year when Republicans are encountering headwinds over the war in Iran and the economy.
Evan Power, the chair of the Republican Party of Florida who organized this week’s post-primary rally, said Thursday that “I do expect him to be helpful” with the November elections.
DeSantis became a national phenomenon during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in the immediate aftermath he pushed through a flurry of conservative policies dealing with race, gender identity, education and abortion that brought him accolades from conservatives across the country.
But even as he remains revered by rank-and-file Republicans, his unsuccessful run against Trump in 2024 damaged his brand. In the past two years, he’s had a hostile relationship with state House GOP leaders, who have blocked some of his legislative initiatives.
DeSantis also has had a cool relationship with Donalds. The two once were allies, but Donalds supported Trump instead of DeSantis in the 2024 GOP primary for president. When Donalds was getting ready to jump into the governor’s race, DeSantis was dismissive and said Donalds “just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the left over these last few years.”
After Tuesday’s primary results came in, DeSantis put out a statement saying that he would support Donalds and other GOP nominees on the November ballot.
When asked this week about his role between now and his January departure, the governor emphasized that he would focus on “state policy all the way till we turn the lights out.”
“We’re going to be very active,” DeSantis said Wednesday. “I believe when you get elected, you get elected to serve the full term. … We told our agency heads and my staff: No senioritis here.”
But, DeSantis added, that “doesn’t mean” he would not get “involved” in GOP campaigns.
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