Nearly a Dozen Florida Republicans Have Endorsed Trump, Snubbing DeSantis
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Representative Carlos Gimenez on Friday became the eleventh member of Congress from Florida to endorse former president Donald Trump in the 2024 race.
“I’ll be supporting president Donald Trump for president in 2024,” Gimenez told Fox News host Neil Cavuto. “I think he gives us the best chance of winning. He had a solid track record as president, and yesterday at the dinner, he laid out a solid plan for the future and where we need to go.”
Gimenez joins the majority of Florida’s 20 Republican members of Congress in snubbing Florida governor Ron DeSantis in favor of the former president. Other members who have endorsed Trump include Representatives Matt Gaetz, Brian Mast, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Greg Steube, Byron Donalds, Vern Buchanan, Gus Bilirakis, Michael Waltz, and John Rutherford.
DeSantis, who has not formally announced a 2024 bid, has secured the support of only one member of the Florida delegation so far: Representative Laurel Lee, who previously served as Florida secretary of state under DeSantis’s administration.
Gimenez said he thinks DeSantis has done a “great job in Florida” and insisted his endorsement is “not against Governor DeSantis” but “for President Trump.”
“I think President Trump is better suited and better prepared to be president of the United States, better prepared to lead us in the direction that this country needs to go,” he said.
Gimenez and the ten other Florida lawmakers who have endorsed the former president met Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.
The recent flurry of endorsements is no accident, according to Politico, which reported today that Trump officials sent emails to Florida members on Sunday asking for support ahead of DeSantis’s planned meeting in D.C. with GOP lawmakers earlier this week.
Representative Lance Gooden of Texas also announced his endorsement of Trump on Tuesday “after careful consideration and a positive meeting” with DeSantis. His endorsement came as a surprise even to Team Trump, according to Politico.
“I met with Governor DeSantis, and while he has done commendable work in Florida, there is no doubt in my mind that President Trump is the only leader who can save America from the leftist onslaught we are currently facing,” Gooden said in a statement.
Meanwhile, as the Sunshine State lawmakers have come out in support of Trump, the former president attacked the state in an email campaign on Friday that called Florida “among the worst states” to live, to work, to raise a family, and to retire. The email also cited statistics that said Florida is one of the least affordable states to live in.
