Simmering feud between Ron DeSantis, Joe Gruters blasts into full view

A long-running feud between Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Republican Party of Florida Chair Joe Gruters is escalating ahead of a 2026 showdown.

At a press conference where DeSantis appointed political ally Blaise Ingoglia as Chief Financial Officer (and passed over Gruters), the Governor took several shots at the Gruters, alleging that the Sarasota Senator had a “linguini spine.”

“If George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?’ my response would be, no, I can’t do that without betraying the voters that elected me,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis at the event praised Ingoglia’s legislative record, but in ways that served as sharp contrasts to Gruters. He brought up an education bill reducing the power of teachers’ unions, which Ingoglia sponsored in 2023 but which Gruters voted against.

“We did landmark legislation to hold teacher unions accountable for their partisan activism. It was a huge achievement for Republicans. Joe Gruters sided with the teacher unions rather than side with conservatives,” DeSantis said.

He also leveled criticism at Gruters for campaigning for a constitutional amendment that would have largely decriminalized marijuana for recreational adult use. DeSantis campaigned against the measure, which was supported by about 56% of Florida voters in November but failed to meet the 60% threshold to pass.

“Joe Gruters sided with the mega-weed company, Trulieve, and was joining with liberal Democrats to try to do it,” DeSantis said. “His record is contrary to what we’ve told the voters that we would do, and it’s all about doing what you said you’re going to do.”

The rebuke of Gruters came as the Sarasota Republican continues to campaign for the Chief Financial Officer position in 2026. The Senator said he has no intention of getting out of the race.

Gruters declined to address DeSantis’ remarks. But rumors of friction between the two Republicans have persisted for years, sometimes in Tallahassee backroom discussions but occasionally in full public view..

The two weren’t always adversaries. After DeSantis first won election as Governor, he advocated for Gruters to become Chair of the Republican Party of Florida in 2018. But he later wanted to see Gruters’ salary reduced, and disagreements about the party direction and staffing arose on multiple occasions.

A greater schism occurred after the Sarasota Republican became the first Florida lawmaker to endorse President Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Primary, as Ingoglia rallied members of the Legislature to endorse the Governor. Shortly after the endorsement, DeSantis vetoed most of Gruters’ appropriations in the state budget, something the Senator labeled as “retribution” at the time.

But more recently, DeSantis has tried to lure Gruters out of running for Chief Financial Officer and give Ingoglia a clean shot. Sources close to Gruters say he was offered the chancellorship at the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus a month ago, but Gruters told USF Trustees he would not take the job.

Still, Gruters just a few months ago was at the center of a fight between DeSantis and the Legislature, when lawmakers declined to take up an immigration proposal from the Governor and instead crafted another bill.

Gruters crafted the bill, reportedly in consultation with Trump’s White House, but it would have directed enforcement of immigration policy away from the Governor’s Office. Ingoglia was among Republican allies of DeSantis who opposed that bill. Eventually, a version passed that DeSantis would sign, but it sparked a bitter rivalry between the Governor and House Speaker Daniel Perez that persisted through the regular Legislative Session.

The Governor alluded to the legislation as he criticized Gruters from the stage, calling it the Perez-Gruters bill.

“He was the author and architect of this terrible amnesty bill, which would have made everything I’ve done, including Alligator Alcatraz, to help President Trump’s illegal immigration removal agenda illegal in the state of Florida, even protecting our coast with the boats from the Haitians coming in, we wouldn’t have been able to do that,” DeSantis said.

“He also authored legislation that would have put gender ideology as a special class in Florida law; we’ve done the opposite since I’ve been Governor.”

Yet, Gruters’ connections to Trump remain a hallmark of his campaign. Less than an hour before DeSantis announced Ingoglia as his choice for Chief Financial Officer, Gruters announced key members of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign would be joining his campaign for Chief Financial Officer. And of course, he has Trump’s endorsement for the job.

DeSantis brushed off that news, and said Trump never personally lobbied him about who should fill the Chief Financial Officer role.

“He (Trump) said we’ve got a great relationship. He’s never once mentioned this to me and all the times I’ve spoken with him over these months. So you know I don’t know how high it is on his radar,” DeSantis said. “I know there are political operatives that stand to gain by certain things. I get that. But in terms of him, he’s never been anything we discussed.”