DeSantis: Any Candidate for Governor Silent on TRUMP Act Will Be 'Dead on Arrival'

DeSantis: Any Candidate for Governor Silent on TRUMP Act Will Be 'Dead on Arrival'

Liv Caputo
Liv Caputo
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January 30, 2025

Florida Republicans hoping to run for governor next year will be "dead on arrival" if they refuse to publicly oppose a new immigration bill, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared Thursday.

He referred to the TRUMP Act, a sweeping 84-page anti-illegal immigration bill passed by the GOP-led Legislature and detested by DeSantis. Republicans who don't join him in opposition, DeSantis said, will not succeed him in 2026.

"If you're not willing to come out and oppose this swampy piece of legislation, you are not going to get elected governor in the state, I can guarantee it," DeSantis said at a Thursday press conference in Palm Beach. "This is hot. This is something that people will remember.

"If you are running in the primary with this thing around your neck, you are dead on arrival," DeSantis added.

The Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migrant Policy (TRUMP) Act passed late Tuesday night, drawing DeSantis's ire as he swore to veto it. The act, proposed by the GOP Legislature, replaced 10 DeSantis-crafted bills also targeting illegal immigration—all of which were killed when legislative leaders adjourned a special session pushed by DeSantis just 15 minutes after it began.

They then gaveled in their own special session starring the TRUMP Act, which DeSantis has blasted as "weak" and "toothless."

Before the press conference, DeSantis posted to social media that he would help fund a "strong" gubernatorial candidate in 2026 using the Florida Freedom Fund, a political fundraising committee created in May to destroy two proposed amendments to the state constitution. According to campaign finance data, the FFF has raised over $8.6 million and spent $6.5 million as of Dec. 31.

Potential gubernatorial candidates on the Republican side include Rep. Byron Donalds, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Lieutenant Gov. Jeanette Nuñez. Of those, only Nuñez has forged a close working relationship with the current governor.

As for Democrats, state Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo has publicly flirted with running.

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Liv Caputo

Liv Caputo

Livia Caputo is a senior at Florida State University, working on a major in Criminology, and a triple minor in Psychology, Communications, and German. She has been working on a journalism career for the past year, and hopes to become a successful reporter after graduation. Her work has been cited in Fox News, the New York Post, and the Daily Mail

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