Blaise Ingoglia to head Ron DeSantis political committee

Blaise Ingoglia tried to set term limits for thousands serving on County Commissions across the state. Image via Colin Hackley/Florida Politics.

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia is taking the helm of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ state-level political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, Division of Elections records show.

The Spring Hill Republican takes over from Robert Watkins, who owns a Tampa-based accounting firm, along with his wife, Nancy, that handles campaign finance record-keeping for several GOP candidates. Nancy Watkins remains Treasurer of the committee.

The move comes ahead of a transition period for DeSantis, who is poised to officially become a candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 2024, and could be seen as a step toward that end.

The committee has $85.8 million in cash on hand as of April 30, according to campaign finance records. Most observers believe the funds are likely to transition to a federal political action committee that could help DeSantis’ campaign for President.

But the money can’t be directly transferred as long as DeSantis is associated with the committee, and the move to put Ingoglia as Chairman and the associated person with the committee keeps the Governor at a step removed from the committee.

Ingoglia is a former House member who was elected to the Senate in 2022. He was also the Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida from 2015 to 2019, helping the party raise money and set out a strategy resulting in GOP victories in nearly every statewide election during that time. Nikki Fried’s win by 5,000 votes in the 2018 Agriculture Commission election was the only exception.

Ingoglia also carried several important bills that were part of DeSantis’ legislative agenda.

The Regular Session ended on Friday, but DeSantis has already signed three Ingoglia-sponsored bills: SB 256, banning teachers’ unions from automatically deducting dues from members’ paychecks; SB 1604, a land use bill that includes a provision aimed at nullifying the former Reedy Creek Improvement District board’s deal to keep control of the Disney-owned district in the entertainment giant’s hands; and SB 450, which lowers the threshold for a jury to recommend a death sentence from a unanimous decision to only requiring eight out of 12 jurors. He also sponsored two other priority bills for DeSantis, SB 1718, cracking down on illegal immigration and HB 7063, the $1.3 billion tax cut package that haven’t been signed yet.