PLAYING CHESS - Ron DeSantis attempts to take over the GOP-led Florida Senate, by POLITICO’s Matt Dixon and Andrew Atterbury: Ron DeSantis is governor of the state of Florida, but also is increasingly trying to be the de facto head of the state’s Republican-led Senate. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch: Please continue to follow POLITICO Florida. PROGRAMMING NOTE - Florida Playbook will not publish next Monday for Juneteenth, but we will return on Tuesday. DeSantis will be in Miami for a press conference where, along with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials, he is expected to announce details of this year's python challenge. But in the near future it means DeSantis will likely have an even more compliant Legislature if he wins reelection. DeSantis has now put his stamp on Florida politics for decades to come with these moves this week.” The point is that these new members to the state Senate could easily serve for years and years - well beyond DeSantis’ time in office. Summing it all up - Veteran Florida Republican political consultant Anthony Pedicini put it this way to Playbook: “Gov. Jeb Bush - got serious pushback when he immersed himself in the internal politics of the Senate. New normal - This type of involvement by a sitting Republican governor is without precedent. But DeSantis on Wednesday threw his support to Jay Collins, a former Green Beret who had been running for Congress. Sorry, not sorry - As POLITICO’s Matt Dixon and Andrew Atterbury point out, in one Tampa race the Senate had already spent $40,000 helping out a former Republican state representative seeking to oust Democrat Sen. The biggest push came Wednesday when he backed two new candidates for the chamber who did not have the support of incoming Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and her leadership team. The governor, whose endorsement is golden now among Republican voters, is helping put in place Republican state senators whose loyalty is to him and not current Senate leadership. That resistance was repaid in part with hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes, many of them projects pushed by Senate President Wilton Simpson.Ĭheckmate - Well, even that slight pushing back may soon be over. Now and then - There were occasional moments of resistance - much of it behind the scenes (resisting DeSantis’ push for a special session last summer, for example) - especially in the Senate. There were other steps along the way but it would eventually give way to handing DeSantis complete control of congressional redistricting.
Step by step - It started with their decision to cede authority to the governor on how to spend billions in federal aid during the height of the pandemic.
Rising - Over the last two years, Republicans who control the Florida Legislature have acquiesced to the demands of Ron DeSantis and given him more and more power as the governor's national profile has grown and his popularity among the GOP ascended.