On Monday, President Donald Trump was inaugurated as our 47th President and promptly released a subsequent flurry of executive actions on everything from immigration to energy and trade to artificial intelligence. That same day, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Secretary of State, continuing the trend of Floridians taking on influential roles within the new administration. Last week, Governor Ron DeSantis announced Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody as his appointment to fill Senator Rubio’s seat, and now-Senator Moody was sworn into office on Tuesday. DeSantis also strongly suggested that his Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier, would fill the resulting open AG role.
The domino effect of these appointments will continue next week with special primary elections on January 28 to fill the congressional seats vacated by Matt Gaetz (CD-1) and Michael Waltz (CD-6), who assumed the role of Director of National Intelligence on Monday. In CD-1, CFO Jimmy Patronis faces off against a crowded primary field of opponents that includes former Escambia County Commissioner Gene Valentino and former Florida State Representative Joel Rudman, while in CD-6 Florida State Senator Randy Fine faces two primary challengers. The winner of these Republican primaries next week will be prohibitive favorites to win their respective general elections being held on April 1st in these solidly Republican districts. On Wednesday, Governor DeSantis also set the election timelines for the special elections in Florida Senate District 19 and Florida House District 3 resulting from Fine & Rudman’s Congressional runs, with both districts holding primaries on April 1st and general elections on June 10 to fill these vacancies in the Florida Legislature.