How the New Trump Era Has Upended Florida Politics
The New York Times
The recent feud between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature over immigration is a sign of more jockeying to come among Republicans over the next two years.
No state’s political order has been more upended by President Trump’s return to power than that of his adopted Florida.
Mr. Trump stacked his new administration with Floridians, leaving powerful positions vacant. Ambitious Republicans have jockeyed to fill them through special elections or appointments by the governor. The reshuffling has empowered Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, to elevate close allies to prominent roles.
No sooner had Mr. Trump settled into the Oval Office than Mr. DeSantis and fellow Republicans in the State Legislature engaged in an unusual political battle over a top issue for the president and voters: illegal immigration. As January turned to February, Republican legislators seemed to care more about granting Mr. Trump’s wishes on the matter than Mr. DeSantis’s.
The feud, which remains unresolved as the two sides tussle over whether the governor or someone else should control the state’s immigration enforcement efforts, has made clear that Mr. DeSantis’s once-commanding influence has waned. It has also shifted power dynamics for the term-limited governor’s final two years in the State Capitol, with Republicans already jostling ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
At the end of January, Mr. DeSantis said that his political committee would raise money for “strong conservative candidates in legislative primaries” — effectively threatening sitting Republicans with possible challengers — and for his preferred candidate for governor. Who that might be has become a Tallahassee parlor game, as Mr. DeSantis has no obvious successor.
He might soon get to choose one, however: On Friday, Jeanette M. Núñez, his lieutenant governor, was named the interim president of Florida International University in Miami — at Mr. DeSantis’s suggestion, the chairman of the university’s board of trustees said — requiring Ms. Núñez to resign and giving Mr. DeSantis a chance to elevate someone he considers a potential political heir.
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