Trump World wants Gov. Ron DeSantis to appoint state Sen. Joe Gruters, one of the few Florida Republicans who has clashed with and even called out the Governor, to the soon-to-be vacant Chief Financial Officer position.
But DeSantis has stayed quiet, even as speculation swirls that he may appoint one of his allies, like state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, to make it more difficult for Sen. Gruters to win the seat when it goes up for election in 2026.
"@JoeGruters will make a fantastic CFO for Florida," said Sen. Rick Scott, a strong Trump ally known to have feuded with DeSantis. Scott has also pushed for DeSantis to appoint Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to Marco Rubio's Senate seat before he becomes the next Secretary of State.
"We love Joe!" Matt Gaetz, a former Congressman who nearly became the next Attorney General, posted to social media. Their comments follow CFO Jimmy Patronis' decision to resign his post in March to take over Gaetz's seat in Congress. Patronis announced his resignation on Monday, hours after Trump urged him on Truth Social to enter the congressional race with a "RUN, JIMMY, RUN!" call to action.
Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes also expressed his support of Gruters on "X" by liking the America First Insight group's endorsement of Gruters.
"We proudly announce our endorsement of @JoeGruter as Florida's Chief Financial Officer. An America Patriot with our and Trump's endorsement, he will be fantastic," stated AFI
But DeSantis has yet to comment.
Tensions were initially high between the two when Gruters became one of the sole Florida Republicans to endorse Trump over DeSantis during the presidential primary. Gruters, the former GOP Chair, went on to tell the Washington Post that he expected the imminent "downfall" of DeSantis' campaign—which was a very unpopular Florida opinion among conservatives. He was right.
"The more he is met by people, the more they are not going to like him,” said Gruters in 2023. "The more he’s out there, the more his numbers go down. It’s not a good long-term scenario for him. I fully expected the downfall of his campaign a long time ago.”
The two clashed again a few months ago when Gruters backed a DeSantis-maligned amendment that would have legalized recreational marijuana. DeSantis' team took to social media to bash Gruters, accusing the Senator of being paid off by weed companies.
Already endorsed by Trump to run for CFO in '26, Gruters made clear that he would run for the position no matter what; whether that means DeSantis appoints him until the 2026 election or that he has to go up against whoever the Governor selects, he plans to run.
"Whether via appointment or at the ballot box in 2026, I look forward to running for CFO as President Trump’s endorsed candidate," Gruters posted Monday. "President Trump’s resounding victory is a mandate for change in this country and I will never stop fighting to Make America Great Again!"
Neither Sen. Ingoglia nor Sen. Gruters responded to a request for comment at the time of publishing.
