State Sen. Joe Gruters wants to be Florida’s next Chief Financial Officer, a Cabinet position that will soon be open. He’s backed by President-elect Donald Trump, incumbent CFO Jimmy Patronis and a host of influential Trump backers.
The only problem? Gruters, a Sarasota Republican, has long had a contentious relationship with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has the power to name Patronis’ replacement.
Still, Gruters says he’s spoken with DeSantis’ staff about the position, wants to be appointed soon and is hopeful of getting it.
“I don’t know where the Governor’s going to go with the CFO seat, although I’m pushing hard and I’d like to have it now because I think it’d be better for Florida,” Gruters told reporters Tuesday after casting an Electoral College vote for Trump as one of Florida’s 30 electors.
Gruters is a former Republican Party of Florida chair who has also served in the state House and Senate. In June he announced a run for the CFO position in 2026 and has already raised $188,000 in his main campaign account and has $155,000 in another political committee.
He’s also a longtime ally of Trump’s, having given him the “Statesman of the Year” award when Gruters was Sarasota County Republican Party Chair in 2012. Gruters was also chair of Trump’s campaign in Florida during his 2016 run for President, well before he surged in the polls. Trump also backed Gruters’ unsuccessful run for treasurer for the Republican National Committee.
The CFO seat is soon to be open now that Patronis has resigned effective March 31 to run for an open U.S. House seat. The position oversees payments to vendors, heads the Department of Financial Services, and is the State Fire Marshal. The duties include oversight of the Office of Insurance Regulation, giving the position a prominent role in managing the property insurance market, which has seen large rate increases in recent years.
It’s unclear when DeSantis might name someone to the CFO seat. A spokesman for DeSantis didn’t return an email seeking comment Thursday.
Patronis suggested it won’t come until after DeSantis appoints someone to the U.S. Senate, a seat that will also soon be open because Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, was tapped by Trump to be the next Secretary of State.
“There’s definitely going to be a little more urgency (with the Senate seat) simply because there’s going to be a vacancy, there’s going to be tight margins in the United States Senate,” Patronis said. “If I’m Governor DeSantis, I’m focusing first on how I’m filling that seat moreso than Jimmy Patronis’ CFO seat.”
Republicans will hold a 53-47 advantage over Democrats in the U.S. Senate when the next Congress organizes in January.
Whenever he decides, DeSantis might not be inclined to do any favors for Gruters.
The two have had a frosty relationship that sometimes resulted in public antagonism between the Republican colleagues.
When DeSantis first took office in January 2019, he was lukewarm on Gruters, who was elected RPOF Chair one week after DeSantis was sworn in. In October of that year, an annual RPOF fundraiser set for November was canceled by Gruters, who was struggling to get President Trump to attend. The next day DeSantis – without alerting Gruters – announced Trump was coming and the event was still on, effectively shunting Gruters’ sway in the party aside.
DeSantis also tried to cut Gruters’ pay as Chair, according to Politico. Yet he never found a challenger when Gruters came up for reelection as party leader in 2021, leaving Gruters in place during DeSantis’ reelection campaign in 2022.
The bad blood simmered below the surface but then reemerged as DeSantis ran for President against Trump. Gruters was one of a handful of GOP state lawmakers who endorsed Trump, while the vast majority of Republicans backed DeSantis.
“The more he is met by people, the more they are not going to like him,” Gruters said about DeSantis, as quoted by the Washington Post in August 2023 as DeSantis struggled to gain ground on Trump in the polls.
Gruters and DeSantis also clashed this year on Amendment 3, which would have legalized marijuana for recreational use. DeSantis was opposed but also pushed state agencies to run public service announcements and ads slamming the ballot measure, a tactic Gruters called a misuse of taxpayer dollars.
In August, James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ chief of staff, suggested on X that Gruters was backing the amendment as a favor to political donors.
Gruters argued appointing another Republican that would run as an incumbent against him in 2026 would be expensive and bad for the party.
“The one thing about a competitive race and in Florida – we have 23 million people,” Gruters said. “I may have to spend $10 million if we have a competitive primary and the other candidate may spend $10 million. And the result of that is Florida loses because $10 million is a lot of money to raise. And that’s a lot of relationships, a lot of baggage you carry on and I would greatly appreciate the support now, but no matter what we’re going to win.”
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
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