As a rift widens throughout the Florida GOP, Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’ll elevate funds to assist elect a “sturdy conservative” to succeed him and urged potential candidates to get on board along with his immigration plan.
Although DeSantis has not made an endorsement, he vowed Thursday that his Florida Freedom Fund political committee will assist candidates in legislative primaries and the 2026 governor’s race. The hassle might shore up DeSantis’ political clout at a time it’d in any other case erode, given his standing as a lame duck.
“We have to elect sturdy leaders who will construct off FL’s success and who will ship on the guarantees made to voters,” he stated in a social media publish.
The announcement got here as DeSantis and Republican legislative leaders — who lately have reliably kowtowed to the governor — clashed over a sweeping $500 million immigration invoice dubbed the TRUMP Act.
The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature handed its personal immigration bundle Tuesday, rejecting the governor’s plan and igniting a heated debate over which model is finest aligned with President Donald Trump’s imaginative and prescient on the problem.
Talking in Palm Seashore County Thursday, DeSantis stated GOP gubernatorial hopefuls must assist his proposal over the Legislature’s.
“In case you are not keen to return out now and oppose this swampy piece of laws, you aren’t going to get elected governor on this state,” he stated. “I can assure it. That is scorching. That is one thing that individuals bear in mind.”
DeSantis has vowed to veto the legislature’s immigration invoice, calling it a “half-baked” measure. Home Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton stand by the invoice, saying it’s powerful and was crafted with help from the Trump White Home.
A key supply of rivalry is the query of who ought to function the state’s chief immigration officer. The Legislature’s invoice would put the elected agriculture commissioner in cost. DeSantis opposes this transfer, arguing that Wilton Simpson — seen as a attainable 2026 gubernatorial contender —can be influenced by particular agricultural pursuits, weakening Florida’s efforts to fight unlawful immigration.
Different potential GOP candidates for governor embrace U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and newly appointed U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody. First woman Casey DeSantis has dismissed hypothesis she might run, saying she has “zero” curiosity in succeeding her husband.
The Legislature’s immigration invoice supplies funding for native regulation enforcement to coach and assist federal immigration officers, permits the leasing of jails and state prisons to carry detainees and enhances penalties for people who find themselves within the nation illegally and commit crimes. It additionally rolls again in-state tuition for college students who’re within the nation.
Nevertheless it rejects most of the proposals DeSantis outlined in his laws, together with increasing the transport of unauthorized immigrants to international international locations, refusing bail for undocumented aliens when they’re arrested, and prohibiting undocumented immigrants from sending cash to their associates and family of their dwelling nation.
In 2024, the Florida Freedom Fund raised about $8.6 million to oppose poll initiatives that might have legalized leisure marijuana and defend abortion rights. Each measures did not get the 60% supermajority vote wanted to cross.
About $2.1 million of the Fund stays unspent, based on marketing campaign finance data.