Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that no worldly—or unworldly—circumstances could convince him to make state Sen. Joe Gruters Florida's next chief financial officer.
Not even undead George Washington.
"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,'" DeSantis said at a Tampa press conference, where he instead made his top ally, state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, the CFO ahead of the 2026 election.
Gruters, 48, was endorsed by President Donald Trump earlier this year to run for the cabinet position. DeSantis, claiming that Trump never spoke about the CFO race with him, lashed out at Gruters for having a "linguini spine" on Second Amendment issues.
He also accused the Sarasota Senator of being pro-illegal immigration, referencing Gruters sponsoring a bill called the TRUMP Act in January. That measure, which passed the legislature but was vetoed by DeSantis, cracked down on illegal immigration through strict new penalties, but granted chief immigration powers to the agriculture commissioner.
DeSantis likened it to an "amnesty bill," and told the audience Thursday to "never forget" how voters were nearly "stabbed in the back" through the TRUMP Act. Ingoglia had sponsored rival anti-illegal immigration bills backed by DeSantis.
Gruters told The Floridian earlier this month that he didn't expect DeSantis to pick him for the role, but it didn't matter because he believes Trump's endorsement will help carry him through the primary to beat Ingoglia in 2026.
Gruters was one of the few Florida Republicans who immediately endorsed Trump over DeSantis during the governor's failed presidential bid. In comments to the Washington Post at the time, Gruters anticipated DeSantis's campaign's "downfall" because he claimed the governor wasn't likable.
More recently, DeSantis bashed him for supporting a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana.
Ahead of his campaign, Gruters hired top Trump advisers—and DeSantis opponents—Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita for his burgeoning campaign. Fabrizio ran the super PAC that created the infamous "Pudding Fingers" ad against DeSantis during the presidential primary.
Ingoglia will take on Gruters as the incumbent during the August 2026 primary, setting a DeSantis versus Trump proxy war on the horizon.
