Peter Schorsch
The tumultuous series of events taking place within the GOP caucus in the Florida House took a dramatic turn on Wednesday after several members pledged to Eric Eisnaugle withdrew their commitments to the Orlando Republican, several legislators tell FloridaPolitics.com.
During a gathering in a side office near the House floor towards the end of an afternoon session, a band of freshman lawmakers — led by Blaise Ingoglia and including Mike Hill, Danny Burgess, Chris Latvala, Chris Sprowls, Jennifer Sullivan, and Jay Trumbull — met with Eisnaugle and one of his lieutenants, Scott Plakon, to express their frustration with the process by which the caucus chooses its future leader.
The confrontation took place after the disaffected members “ambushed” Eisnaugle while he was meeting with Sullivan.
By the end of the meeting, Eisnaugle’s support within the GOP caucus had been halved.
Eisnaugle supporters had been saying that he had the pledges of 17 or 18 of 19 of his fellow freshmen (Hill being the only member of the class who has not signed a pledge card, while its not clear if Jay Fant actually signed a pledge card).
According to one of the participants in the meeting, an “aggressive”, “red-faced” Ingoglia informed Eisnaugle that this ‘caucus within the caucus’ seeks to “reform” the system for selecting future Speakers of the House. The members also said they were now reserving the right to decide who they would support for Speaker during the 2021-22 Legislative Session after their first term. (It’s unclear whether these members want to vote for a Speaker-to-be after the serve two legislative sessions or after they are re-elected.)
According to Rep. Scott Plakon, a steadfast supporter of Eisnaugle, there was a discussion about reforming the process. He said that Ingoglia was “very vocal” and that in this meeting and in recent days it “seems that he would like to be speaker”
After this meeting, a group of members pledged to Eisnaugle held their own pow wow, confirms Plakon. They each reconfirmed their commitment to Eisnaugle.
“To a person, we decided our word is important,” said Plakon, who expressed frustration with his House colleagues “reneging” on their pledge to support Eisnaugle.
Last week, the first public expression of dissatisfaction with Eisnaugle one day becoming Speaker made its way to this and other political blogs.
The Twitterverse exploded with news last Wednesday that an effort was underway — in real time — to dislodge state Eisnaugle from a leadership post in the state House that few before this week had publicly acknowledged he had won and one he won’t hold until 2021.
A “coup” was how the effort was being described, although it was not clear who was leading such an uprising or why it was even happening.
However, by the end of the day, Eisnaugle has reportedly reaffirmed his grip on the House speakership in 2021-2022.
That would seem to no longer be the case.
Here is who Eisnaugle still has in his camp (at least) himself, Plakon, Colleen Burton, Bob Cortes, Brad Drake, Fred Costello, Julio Gonzalez, Shawn Harrison, Mike Miller, Rene Plascenia, and Paul Renner.
Here is why Eisnaugle is on shaky ground.
Costello is considering running for Ron DeSantis’ congressional seat once DeSantis enters the race for Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate seat.
Furthermore, Cortes, Harrison, Miller, and Plascenia are all in battleground House seats. In a presidential election cycle, it’s plausible to assume that the ever-hapless Florida Democrats can poach one or more of those seats.
Developing…
