MIAMI — Former New College Foundation executive director Sydney Gruters, the wife of RNC Chair Joe Gruters, has launched her campaign to run for Congress in Florida.
Sydney Gruters is vying to replace retiring GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, her former boss who’s been a mentor to up-and-coming talent in Southwest Florida as well as a powerhouse fundraiser. She’s the only candidate running for an open seat in Florida who has received an endorsement from President Donald Trump, widely viewed as determinative in ushering her to frontrunner status for the GOP nomination.
While Joe Gruters has a prominent national role, Sydney Gruters, 44, is well-known in her district and intimately familiar with the demands of Congress. She spent most of her career working for House members, in politics and in government, while also raising three children. She pledged in a statement to focus on tackling high costs.
“I’ve spent my career helping people solve problems and get results,” she said. “Southwest Florida deserves a representative who understands this community, shares its values, and will fight every day to lower the cost of living, expand opportunity and build a stronger future for our families.”
Two other open House seats in Florida have drawn a feeding frenzy of candidates, but major potential challengers held off on filing in Florida’s red-leaning 16th District after POLITICO reported Sydney Gruters was weighing a run for the seat.
“There’s just a genuine respect — and that’s why you don’t have a bunch of challengers,” said former Florida Senate President Bill Galvano, who’s known Syndey Gruters since her first job as a congressional staffer and is endorsing her for the seat. “This isn’t a question of whether you can beat her. It’s a question of, ‘Is this a good person to fill this role?’ And the resounding reaction has been ‘Yes.’”
Sydney Gruters started her career working for the congressional campaign of former Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), then in political and official roles for Buchanan over the course of a decade. During his first administration, Trump appointed her rural development state director for Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a job that involves overseeing six offices and an 80-person staff. Before landing at New College of Florida, she was district director for GOP Rep. Greg Steube.
In those district-level roles, staffers help constituents navigate complex government agencies like Social Security, FEMA and the IRS, explained Tara Poulton, district chief of staff for Buchanan and a candidate for Manatee County commission. Poulton said she has long tapped “powerhouse” Sydney Gruters as a resource and described her as a mentor.
“I have always respected her leadership and her dedication,” she said, “and she’s incredibly qualified.”
Sydney Gruters’ role at New College, the small liberal arts state college in Sarasota, put her in one of Florida’s most closely watched higher education environments. In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis worked to reform the school through appointing conservative-leaning trustees to create a classical education curriculum. In October, the school was first to sign on to Trump’s proposed compact offering schools access to federal funding for backing his policy priorities on college finance, hiring and admissions.
The changes at New College were met with mixed reactions, including backlash by some students, parents and faculty who described it as a “hostile takeover.” Critics also say the school’s spending has been excessive, pointing to a recent report that found its per-student spending is higher than other state colleges and universities.
But its defenders argue it badly needed investment after years of building neglect and flagging enrollment that brought it to the brink of closure. The college’s enrollment has hit a record since the revamp.
The foundation Sydney Gruters led until Wednesday is a separate nonprofit that raises and manages private donations for the college. Since coming aboard, she led an increase to the school’s assets from $39 million to $54 million, said New College President Richard Corcoran, the former state education commissioner and state House speaker who has known Sydney Gruters since her college years at the University of Florida.
“She knows what she believes and is going to fight to the nth degree for those things — but she will do it in a way that’s kind,” Corcoran said. “I’ll be 100 percent devastated that she’s leaving. And I’ll be 100 percent behind her.”
Alice Rothbauer, who was development director at the foundation, said Sydney Gruters’ experience working for Congress — in roles that often involve taking calls from frustrated constituents seeking help — equipped her to handle scrutiny the college faced while still being able to share its vision for the future as it pivoted to “a different narrative for higher education.” She described her former boss as a “quiet force” who understood the importance of teamwork.
“She’s sort of like a swan: graceful, diplomatic, dignified — but under the water she’s peddling as hard as everyone around her.”
If elected, Sydney Gruters would occupy a seat Buchanan — one of the wealthiest members of Congress — held for 20 years. The Gruters couple is close to Buchanan and Jim Boyd, the Republican state Senate majority leader, described them as gracious and supportive of his and others’ political endeavors, saying they connected over their conservative philosophies about family, community and business.
“Joe has earned the ability and opportunity to serve our national party and Sydney has been supportive and helpful all along the way,” he said. “It’s very nice that Sydney is willing to offer herself up for public service and is stepping into the arena to serve.”
Asked this week about a potential run by Sydney Gruters, Manatee County Democratic Party Chair Christine Kennedy Meier criticized her as a “Trump rubber stamp” who “helped dismantle higher education in Sarasota” and said voters were prepared for “a breath of fresh air and something new.”
“It’s a consolidation of power through backroom deals and covert conversations that strip the power away from the people,” she said.
Joe Gruters is a longtime ally to Trump, having worked as co-chair of Trump’s 2016 Florida campaign with Susie Wiles, the current White House chief of staff. But he’s also had high-profile clashes with DeSantis, having bucked most of his Legislature colleagues by backing Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination for president. The RNC chair issued a statement shortly after his wife received Trump’s endorsement last week, saying the committee’s rules require neutrality in primaries. “Any support I provide would be in a purely personal capacity,” he said.
POLITICO previously reported Joe Gruters had also been interested in running, though the RNC denied it. Allies of the couple quickly shot down rumors that Sydney Gruters intended to only remain in the seat for a short time in order for her husband to run for it later. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who counts Joe Gruters as his closest friend, called such predictions “misogynistic” and said, “I think Joe would tell you she’s smarter than him.”
“She’s had to put up with Joe so she’ll have the patience to deal with Washington, D.C.,” Fine quipped of his “gregarious, outgoing” friend. “Sydney keeps him grounded and focused on the things that have to get done.”
Andrew Atterbury contributed to this report.
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