Ron DeSantis has come to a fork in the road.
He is facing one of the biggest decisions of his political career.
And Ron DeSantis dropped one hint about his future that no one saw coming.
Ron DeSantis does not rule out appointing himself to the Senate
President-elect Donald Trump nominated U.S. Senator Maro Rubio (R-FL) to serve as his Secretary of State.
Rubio is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate which would leave a vacant Senate seat in Florida.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will appoint a replacement under state law who would serve until 2026 when there would be a special election for the remainder of Rubio’s term.
DeSantis announced on social media that he and his staff were vetting potential replacements for Rubio.
“Senator Marco Rubio is expected to resign from the Senate to assume duties as Secretary of State when the Trump administration takes power on January 20th, creating a vacancy roughly two months from today,” DeSantis wrote on X.
He said that he and his staff were gathering names with an announcement of the replacement likely coming in January.
“We have already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting. More extensive vetting and candidate interviews will be conducted over the next few weeks, with a selection likely made by the beginning of January,” DeSantis continued.
The Florida Governor wanted to appoint a conservative who could help implement the Trump agenda.
“Florida deserves a Senator who will help President Trump deliver on his election mandate, be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and has a proven record of results,” DeSantis concluded.
A potential opportunity for DeSantis
DeSantis fell short in the Republican Presidential Primary this year when he ran into a juggernaut in Trump.
He could always launch another Presidential bid in 2028, but it would appear Vice President-elect J.D. Vance is set to be Trump’s heir apparent and likely receive his endorsement.
DeSantis ran for Rubio’s Senate seat in 2016, but he dropped out and ran for re-election to the House when Rubio decided to run for re-election at the last minute after he dropped out of the Presidential race.
He is term-limited as Governor after the 2026 Election.
Running for the Senate would allow him to keep his political career alive and potentially let the 46-year-old DeSantis run for President again in the 2030s.
He could also appoint a placeholder to the Senate seat and run in the special election for it in 2026.
DeSantis’ Chief of Staff James Uthmeier, Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL), Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, and Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez are some of the names rumored to be connected to Senate vacancy.
The Florida Governor has left his political future up in the air.
“We’ll see what the future holds,” DeSantis told radio host Steve Deace in January. “Most of the people that supported me, whether activists, whether volunteers, whether fundraisers, you know, they’re all on board, you know, for what the future holds. So, we’ll be active.”
Ron DeSantis will be facing one of the most important decisions about his future with Marco Rubio’s Senate vacancy.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
