President-elect Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are meeting over a round of golf on Tuesday, as key decisions loom in the state they both call home.
The meetup is taking place as Trump backed DeSantis’ recent call for a special session in Florida to address illegal immigration — despite reticence from Republican leaders in the Legislature — and as the governor is getting closer to unveiling his pick for Senate to replace Trump administration-bound Marco Rubio.
News of the golf meeting was confirmed by four people familiar with the details, granted anonymity to discuss internal planning. The Trump transition and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, is facing the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday and is expected to be one of Trump’s first Cabinet members to be sworn in. POLITICO previously reported that DeSantis is leaning toward appointing state Attorney General Ashley Moody to fill Rubio’s Senate seat, which would then be up for an election in 2026.
DeSantis said publicly on Monday that he hasn’t made a decision, but has repeatedly stressed during the last couple of weeks that whoever he chooses must agree with Trump’s agenda and have a record of addressing illegal immigration. DeSantis and Trump ran a bitter presidential primary against each other but began to patch things up over a meeting in Florida in April. Trump even considered DeSantis for defense secretary late last year when his first choice, Pete Hegseth, appeared to be floundering.
Another Florida official who’s future hangs in the balance as Trump and DeSantis appear to iron out policy and personnel details is state Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), a close Trump ally who has clashed with DeSantis. Gruters has Trump’s endorsement to become the chief financial officer of the state in the 2026 election, but DeSantis may appoint state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) to the seat.
That seat is available sooner than 2026 because the current officeholder, CFO Jimmy Patronis, is running for the 1st Congressional District, the seat that Matt Gaetz vacated before dropping out of the running to be attorney general. Should DeSantis somehow appoint Gruters, then he would have a leg up as an incumbent in two years. Trump has also backed Gruters to become treasurer of the Republican National Committee.
DeSantis attended a dinner with other Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago last week, where he called out reporters for what he viewed as uneven coverage between Republican and Democratic governors in the midst of overseeing natural disasters.
DeSantis called for the special session days after that meeting, and indicated that he had insight into Trump’s forthcoming executive orders on immigration. He wants the Florida Legislature to put state funds into local governments “in the tens of millions” of dollars, coupled with giving local officials more power to be able to take on more functions that are typically carried out by federal immigration officials.
