Gov. Ron DeSantis is in no rush to endorse his potential successor.
During an interview that was released Tuesday with podcaster Julio Rosas, the term limited Republican said he was still watching and waiting, not compelled to formally back anyone in the Republican Primary for Governor, and questioning if anyone is even paying attention to the race at this point.
“I try to help the Republican once there’s a nominee. I have gotten involved in some primaries, but it’s usually when there’s a candidate that’s really speaking my language that I’m really excited to get behind. And so if that happens, then people will know if I make that judgment. If it’s not, then, you know, then it just is what it is. And so you just have to wait and see. But I think over the years, we’ve looked and there have been times we’ve done it, but by and large, it’s not something that I’ve always gotten involved in.”
While his disdain for front-runner Byron Donalds, a Congressman from Naples, is a matter of record, two other candidates seem to be staking their hopes on the DeSantis endorsement: Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, whom DeSantis used to call the “Chuck Norris of Florida Politics”; and former House Speaker Paul Renner.
Both men effuse about the Governor multiple times a day on social media.
But DeSantis doesn’t seem moved, and he seems to believe there is plenty of time to let the fray play out.
“So as these guys get out, I don’t think people have paid attention to this in 2025. And I don’t think a lot of people are paying attention now. I think they probably will, so we get, you know, more into the spring,” DeSantis said. “(T)hat’ll be the time where we’ll look and see, and see how these guys are, are putting themselves out and seeing what I think they’ll do if they’re Governor.”
