Trump backs Florida's chief financial officer as successor to Gaetz in Congress

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — President-elect Donald Trump is throwing his support behind Florida’s chief financial officer as his choice to succeed former Rep. Matt Gaetz in Congress, a move that could increase pressure on Gov. Ron DeSantis to pick allies to the president-elect for other posts.

Trump on Monday said on social media that he would support Republican Jimmy Patronis for the now-vacant northwest Florida congressional seat that Gaetz gave up during his truncated bid for attorney general. Gaetz withdrew from consideration amid an outcry over investigations into his conduct. The Department of Justice conducted its own investigation as part of a sex trafficking probe and, according to Gaetz’s lawyers and DOJ officials, decided not to bring criminal charges.

Trump said that Patronis had “been a wonderful friend to me,” even though Patronis did not endorse Trump in this year’s presidential race until after DeSantis withdrew from the primary.

“Should he decide to enter this Race, Jimmy Patronis has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JIMMY, RUN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Patronis appeared ready to take that advice. He put out his own social media post on Monday afternoon that said “Put me to work, Mr. President! … I am here to serve.”

Trump’s decision to back Patronis follows his public support of state Sen. Randy Fine for the congressional seat of another one of his picks in a second administration, Rep. Mike Waltz.

It comes at a key moment. Elected officials interested in running in the special election to pick Gaetz’s successor are required on Monday to submit their resign-to-run letters if they want to hold on to their seats while campaigning. Two state legislators had already said they planned to jump into the race, as has one local elected official.

Patronis' decision to run for Congress means it would fall to DeSantis to pick someone to fill his job until the 2026 elections. State Sen. Joe Gruters, a long-time ally of Trump who has clashed with DeSantis, has already said he is running for chief financial officer. The question is whether DeSantis will fill the job with someone who would be able to run against Gruters in two years.

Additionally, Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law, has expressed interest in being appointed to the Senate seat now held by Marco Rubio. Trump has nominated Rubio for secretary of state, and it will be up to DeSantis to decide who will hold that seat until the next round of elections in two years.

Patronis, whose family runs a famous restaurant in Panama City, has been the state’s chief financial officer, a statewide elected post, since being appointed to it in 2017 by then-Gov. Rick Scott. Patronis, who had been a legislator, had been a strong ally to Scott going back to his first run as governor when Patronis supported him over the GOP candidate backed by most of Florida’s Republican establishment.

Patronis does not live in Gaetz’s congressional district, but he is well known throughout the region.

This marks the second Florida congressional race that Trump has made his preference known. Over the weekend he put out a social media post urging Fine, the state senator, to run for the congressional seat in northeast Florida held by Waltz. Trump picked Waltz as his national security adviser.