Gov. DeSantis says Florida Cabinet is ‘a little bit in flux’

The Florida Cabinet has mostly been a model of consistency during Ron DeSantis’ tenure as Governor. But Floridians will soon know several new faces at the top of state government.

DeSantis acknowledged as much during an emergency Cabinet meeting Monday. The Governor mainly spotlighted the state’s soon-to-be outgoing Chief Financial Officer.

“The Florida Cabinet’s a little bit in flux because we have Jimmy Patronis, who has served the state very well, but he’s fixing to get elected to go to the big show up in Washington, D.C., and is going to be the U.S. Representative for the 1st District,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis noted that in addition to being at the “emergency meeting” of the Cabinet Monday, where immigration policy is the topic, Patronis will also be at the regular Cabinet meeting next month.

But that will likely be Patronis’ swan song, DeSantis noted.

“He’s got a little bit of time left and then he’s going to go on and I know do great things.”

Since DeSantis won in 2018, Patronis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez have served alongside him in Tallahassee. Only Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson is a relatively new face, winning the office in 2022 after Nikki Fried decided against running for another term.

But that stability has been upended in recent months. Patronis is running for Congress. Moody replaced Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Senate last month. And Nuñez has resigned to become Interim President of Florida International University.

DeSantis will be charged with appointing a new CFO, even though the office is on the ballot next year. His selection will be closely watched, as will his pick to replace Nuñez.

The Governor also addressed his expectations for newly installed Attorney General James Uthmeier, who will also be on the ballot next year after replacing Moody as AG. DeSantis said he has “a lot of confidence in him to really take the AG’s office in a very strong direction” and reflected on Uthmeier’s legacy.

“James was both in the General Counsel’s office and was Chief of Staff for many years of our administration. All the things you see get done and people are looking to Florida as the leader and they’re saying, why can’t the other states do what Florida’s doing and all that?” DeSantis said.

“It’s easy for me to make pronouncements … but ultimately, things need to be brought in for a landing, they need to actually be implemented. And so all the things that you’ve seen over these years, you know, really without James, who knows whether any of that stuff would have gotten done.”