Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was just getting back into President Donald Trump’s good graces. But a new pick for a key state job lit a fuse in MAGA World and threatens to unravel it all.
The Republican governor appointed one of his loyalists to a Florida Cabinet position Wednesday rather than select a Trump-endorsed candidate, just two weeks after the president declared DeSantis would “always be my friend” and that the two had “blood that seems to match pretty well.”
Now, DeSantis-backed state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia will face off against Trump-backed state Sen. Joe Gruters for the job of state chief financial officer — setting up a state Republican showdown that will culminate in an August 2026 primary.
This marks the first direct public conflict between the two former presidential rivals since Trump dominated the Iowa Caucuses, forcing DeSantis to withdraw from the White House race. And it has created dread among state GOP lobbyists and operatives, who worry about how distracting and divisive another Trump-DeSantis clash on the men’s home turf will become.
Gruters’ campaign is bringing on familiar faces for the modern GOP: Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita as senior strategist along with chief Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio. LaCivita vowed Wednesday to “work to defeat any poser that stands in our way.” And Fabrizio warned DeSantis’ decision “will be viewed as a direct rebuke to the MAGA agenda.”
DeSantis, who announced his pick of Ingoglia at an event in Tampa, wasted little time defending his decision to bypass Gruters. He contended Gruters’ record — including his support for an immigration bill the governor vetoed this year — disqualified him from serious consideration. He maintained the bill would have blocked the state from setting up the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center.
“Joe Gruters has taken major positions that are totally contrary from what our voter base wants to do,” DeSantis said. “So if George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?’ My response would be ‘no.’ I can’t do that without betraying the voters that elected me to lead this state in a conservative direction.”
Allies to the governor tried to avoid the face off, even holding 11th-hour conversations with Gruters on taking another government job and withdrawing from the CFO contest, according to half a dozen GOP operatives and lobbyists who were granted anonymity to relay the details of private conversations. Jobs that were under negotiation included making Gruters president or chancellor of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee Campus, the operatives and lobbyists said.
A senior White House official told POLITICO that Trump supported whatever Gruters wanted to do because “Joe has always supported the president,” and added that Trump did not pressure DeSantis on Gruters. DeSantis himself said he had not talked to Trump about the appointment.
“We have not taken a hard line against Blaise — doesn’t mean we won’t,” the White House official said, adding, “If we want to beat Blaise, we will beat him.” The official raised a recent survey from St. Pete Polls that had Gruters up by 50 points when voters were told Trump endorsed him. The poll question didn’t mention Ingoglia had DeSantis’ support.
It’s possible negotiations will continue for Gruters to bow out and give Ingoglia a smooth shot at the GOP nomination for CFO. At least one veteran GOP operative said the White House would need to see DeSantis make some sort of concession in return, such as endorsing Trump-backed Rep. Byron Donalds to be the next governor of Florida. If he doesn’t, the operative said, “I don’t know how this whole thing gets solved.”
The governor’s office declined to comment, pointing to DeSantis’ remarks at Wednesday’s press conference. The senior White House official said Trump hasn’t asked DeSantis to endorse Donalds but that “it would be the right thing to do if he supports the president as he says he does.” The official predicted Donalds would win regardless, because of Trump’s backing.
But DeSantis already brushed off Donalds’ candidacy and has been working on backing a different candidate, potentially even his wife, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, after his term ends.
Trump called on Gruters to run for CFO more than a year ago, long before the role became vacant. Former CFO Republican Jimmy Patronis stepped down in late March to successfully run for Matt Gaetz’s former congressional seat.
Gruters talked openly about how he wanted DeSantis to pick him for CFO. But that was always unlikely: He and DeSantis have had a strained relationship for years, as Gruters has been firmly in the Trump camp and has criticized the governor. He also supported a 2024 marijuana legalization ballot measure that DeSantis poured his political capital into successfully defeating.
DeSantis cited the marijuana fight Wednesday when asked by reporters why he didn’t go with Gruters and pointed to Gruters’ vote against a bill that makes it easier to decertify unions.
In contrast, Ingoglia has been a DeSantis loyalist who sponsored many of the governor’s initiatives, from voting restrictions to illegal immigration bills and death penalty changes. Ingoglia also spoke publicly about how he wanted the job, but stressed he’d respect the governor’s decision.
During a showdown inside Florida’s GOP legislative supermajority in January, Ingoglia stood up to his colleagues in the state Legislature and helped argue the governor’s position. Gruters, meanwhile, was one of the leaders on the other side of the fight. Ingoglia also defended the state’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility this past weekend as it came under fire from Democrats, who said conditions were inhumane. Gruters attended the opening of the center when Trump showed up.
“Every single time we have had a flashpoint in Florida,” DeSantis said, “Blaise is running into battle to stand up for people like you.”
The Florida CFO is responsible for managing the state’s checkbook and overseeing regulations on banking and insurance, the latter of which has posed a huge problem for Floridians in recent years due to surging costs in property and car insurance. While in the Legislature, Ingoglia forcefully supported DeSantis’ push to reduce property taxes as much as possible — and Wednesday, he previewed the issue as a top focus for him, alongside the governor, ahead of the 2026 cycle.
But Trump allies predict the president’s endorsement of Gruters will override every other factor. DeSantis was able to dominate in the 2018 gubernatorial primary once he had Trump’s backing. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) pointed out that he won 83 percent of the vote in his January special election primary after Trump endorsed him.
“If Ron DeSantis wants to campaign against Donald Trump again, he clearly didn’t learn after what happened last time,” said Fine, a former Florida legislator and close friend to Gruters. “It says a lot about how much Ronald values his relationship with Trump.”
The governor may have had reasons to feel optimistic about where he and Trump stood regardless of his CFO appointment. Two weeks ago, Trump praised him during a visit to Florida and said prior fights were behind them.
And White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — who previously worked for DeSantis during his first run for governor until the two had a brutal falling out — told New York Post columnist Miranda Devine that the fallout was in the “rearview mirror” and that she thought DeSantis was a “good governor.”
DeSantis may feel further emboldened about his clout in Florida following not just the victory against the marijuana ballot measure but another on abortion rights. Trump had been on the other issue of the marijuana ballot measure, but didn’t go beyond posting about it on Truth Social.
It remains to be seen how often Trump will touch down in Florida during the primary. The White House official told POLITICO the president would campaign here “if we need to.”
“The fact is,” the official said, “the president can and will beat any candidate he chooses to put his weight behind.”
This isn’t the first time DeSantis has favored one of his allies over Trump’s pick. DeSantis appointed another loyalist, former state Attorney General Ashley Moody, to the Senate after Marco Rubio joined the State Department.
Even though Trump had initially pushed for his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to receive the nod, Moody has been able to bring key Trump operatives to her 2026 operation to keep her seat — the same ones Gruters secured — which suggests she won’t face a Trump challenger.
“Generally speaking, [DeSantis] is very ideologically pure on his appointments,” said one Florida-based GOP lobbyist and political strategist. “Look at the massive pressure that was put on him by Trump World to appoint Laura [sic] Trump. He appointed Ashley Moody and she has become very well respected in MAGA world.”
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