DeSantis and Trump Square Off During Upcoming Florida GOP Election

The upcoming Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) Chairman’s election between Vice Chairman Christian Ziegler and Chair of Chairs Evan Power, could be  Round 1 of the highly anticipated heavyweight presidential primary bout between former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Ziegler, who has been a staunch supporter of outgoing Chairman Joe Gruters and President Trump, appears to have Trump’s political operative corps backing his candidacy.

Power on the other hand, who is also very supportive of President Trump, is seen as DeSantis’s choice, as several individuals within DeSantis's world see Power as being the candidate the popular governor is more aligned with.

While the Florida GOP isn’t in as bad shape as their Democratic counterparts, who have all but sunken their own political ship and lost their identity, the Republican Party still needs some heavy resurrecting.

Gov. DeSantis, who has been at odds with the RPOF’s leadership since taking office and sees it as weak, has been the de facto head of the political party,  propping it up with massive campaign contributions.

According to the Florida Division of Election, since 2018, the Friends of Ron DeSantis committee has contributed roughly $100 million to the RPOF, with most of it coming in the last few months of the 2022 midterm election.

In order for either Power or Ziegler to become the next chairman of the RPOF, they must first muster up enough votes from the 261 voting members and elected officials and hope that Gov. DeSantis’s 1o votes fall in line with their respective campaigns.

So, with all that said, we reached out to both Power and Ziegler and sent them the same list of questions we thought were pertinent to their election.

Again, both men received the same questions.

Evan Power

The Floridian: The Chairman you replace had a very distant, unproductive relationship with Gov. Ron DeSantis. There was no secret that the Governor was not happy with his leadership.

If elected Chairman, is it your goal to work alongside Gov. DeSantis to forward his “Florida First” agenda for Floridians?

Power: Florida owes much of its success to the bold leadership of Governor DeSantis. The goal of the RPOF and it’s next Chairman should be to help the Governor amplify his message to potential voters, because as we have seen his agenda resonates with voters. I look forward to working with the Governor!

 

The Floridian: What will you do to improve the Republican Party of Florida? List 4 things

Power:

1) Fundraising- Create a finance committee made up of donors and committee members. We will build out a full package of fundraising from digital, events, and merchandise

2) Focus on building infrastructure in our counties. Help all our counties have plans for voter registration, communication, and voter turnout.

3) Training- Help out precinct committee people, REC officers, and Club officers understand their roles and help them have the resources to better execute for the team.

4) Communication-The State party must do a better job communicating on the successes that our Governor and legislature are having in Tallahassee.

 

The Floridian: You and your opponent are political consultants, do you think it is a conflict of interest to continue consulting campaigns if you are the chairman of the party?

Power: I have made a commitment to be a full time Chairman. It is what our party needs right now, to have someone who is able and ready to help our county leaders.  I will not consult for any campaigns whether here in Florida or elsewhere and my company will not do any business while Chair. No business runs on its own, and with Florida being the epicenter of politics right now, some might try to use even out-of-state contracts to attempt to gain favor with the Chairman. We need a Chairman without such conflicts.

My opponent claims businesses run on their own, anyone like myself, who runs a company knows that could not be further from the truth. That’s why I have made the commitment to be Chairman full-time.

 

The Floridian: The Republican political class believes the RPOF is useless and ineffective and needs to be overhauled.

Will you vow to replace heads of committees, like the controversial(problematic) Grievance Committee, in hopes to bring unity to the RPOF?

Power: Every Chairman reviews the committees that are in place and restructures to better fit the needs of the party. I expect my transition will be no exception. We have had an influx of new county leaders into our party and  I look forward to adding this new blood into our system while continuing to utilize the experience of some of our veteran members.

 

Christian Ziegler

The Floridian: The Chairman you replace had a very distant, unproductive relationship with Gov. Ron DeSantis. There was no secret that the Governor was not happy with his leadership.

If elected Chairman, is it your goal to work alongside Gov. DeSantis to forward his “Florida First” agenda for Floridians?

Ziegler: 100%. Governor DeSantis is transformational Governor who wakes up every day running towards the fight on behalf of Conservatives. As he takes on these fights, The Republican Party of Florida must provide cover and support by defending and promoting his efforts.

My wife has worked with and helped advise his team on K-12 issues as one of his top School Board Member in the state and no one in the Florida GOP has been in the media more aggressively than I have for the Governor over the last four years. I intend to continue and expand on those efforts.

 

The Floridian: What will you do to improve the Republican Party of Florida? List 4 things

Ziegler:

1) Be a very engaged and aggressive State Chairman. Ruthless & relentless against Democrats and incredibly responsive to our entire Republican Team across the state.

2) Fundraising. Fundraising. Fundraising. We need to ensure that we have the funds necessary to conduct an aggressive operation. This is the most important job of a State Chairman.

3) We will continue to dominate with our year-round Voter Registration efforts & the nation’s best Get Out The Vote operations, but it’s time to expand our reach, efforts and success into targeting and winning more School Board, County Commission, and City Commission races for Conservative candidates. That’s how we take back our country.

4) Provide counties with the resources and training necessary to execute effectively and be successful at the local level. The days of the GOP being a social club are over. It’s time to turn the party into a fight club. We need to have our entire focus on one thing - winning every item the ballot.

 

The Floridian: You and your opponent are political consultants, do you think it is a conflict of interest to continue consulting campaigns if you are the chairman of the party?

Ziegler: I think the Committee will benefit greatly from someone who has helped run races from the school board & county commission level up thru the state, federal, presidential and international level.

As for current career status, my opponent and I are in two very different positions.

He works for someone else as a lobbyist.

I run a business and I have a team that can operate without me being there all day, every day. That frees me up to focus on showing up across the state, as I have - on my own time & dime - for the past four years as Vice Chairman. I have been told (and it’s something I take pride in) that I have been the most aggressive and engaged Vice Chairman in our party’s history. I intend to multiple those efforts as Chairman.

Additionally, for me, this isn’t about moving up the social ladder in Tallahassee or running for office in the future. This is about having an opportunity to wake up every day and know that I am leading a team of fighters at the county level to crush the Democrats in my state, thus protecting my daughters from Democrats seeking to destroy our local communities, state and country. It’s a passion of mine and no one will worker harder than me.

 

The Floridian: Will you vow to replace heads of committees, like the controversial Grievance Committee, in hopes to bring unity to the RPOF?

Ziegler: Following the election, we will review the existence of every committee and the leadership of those committees as we move forward. Feedback will be solicited, encouraged and considered directly from the committee. I will say that committees need to be focused on carrying out the mission of the party, not individual personalities.

During a Republican congressional delegation interview with both Power and Ziegler, Rep. Matt Gaetz asked both men about their consulting jobs.

Power said he would only work as chairman, while Ziegler stated that he would not consult campaigns within Florida, but rather focus on out-of-state campaigns.

Enter Anthony Sabatini

Former disgraced state Rep. Anthony Sabatini is said to have approached both Power and Ziegler and aggressively suggested they follow the Texas GOP model and instill “legislative scorecards.”

Ziegler and Power rejected Sabatini advance. Sabatini was said to be positioning himself to run for chairman of the party after wining his Lake County GOP chairman’s race late last year.

Sabatini is considered a pariah in Florida Republican circle after insulting just about every Conservative lawmaker in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., not to mention making offensive and racially-charged comments against Rep. Cory Mills’ wife during the 2022 Republican congressional primary race in CD 7.

Conflict of Interest?

While Power said that he would only focus on working for the RPOF, Ziegler will continue his consulting business, which could be perceived as a conflict of interest.

Could Ziegler follow in the same footsteps as his friend and outgoing chairman, Sen. Joe Gruters?

In December 2021, The Floridian outlined how Gruters, similarly to former RPOF Chairman Jim Greer,  was making money using his political influence to sway elections, and working with political figures who are perceived by some Republicans as being unsavory.

Gruters is said to be part of the “Purple Mafia” that is trying to control a good portion of Republican politics statewide and is currently operating out of the Tampa Bay area.

In the years that he has been vice chairman, business has been good for Ziegler, whose Microtargeting Media, LLc has benefitted from Gruters’ loyalty and generosity, not to mention his own position as vice chair of the RPOF.

Last year, Microtargeting Media was paid $21,357 by the conservative group,  Moms of Liberty, the group that his wife Bridget Ziegler founded.

In addition, Zeigler is said to have worked with Governor Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, two staunch Trump supports.

But what is more interesting is the money he received from Florida Conservatives United, a political action committee associated with Gruters, where his Microtargeting Media company received $15,210.12 for services rendered.

In looking at the PAC’s expenditures, Extensive Enterprises, owned by Peter Schorsch, a well-documented opponent of Gov. DeSantis, and part of the Tampa Bay cabal, was also on the payroll.

Sabatini also received a campaign contribution from the PAC.

Florida Conservatives also contributed $6,500 to Bridget Ziegler’s campaign and her campaign committee.

Will  Ziegler lead the RPOF  be the same way Gruters and Grier  did ?

And then there is Power.

Power is a lobbyist, and while he says he will give up lobbying to run the state party, he could use his former position to leverage the Tallahassee lobby corps and could look to help curry favor with lobbyists loyal and supportive of his potential chairmanship.

The chairman’s election or DeSantis vs Trump I, will take place on Saturday February 18^th at around 10 am.

Gov. DeSantis is expected to address the RPOF shortly after the chairman’s election.