Exclusive: Florida GOP Congressman Endorses Trump for President

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As Republicans in Congress ponder whether to back a candidate in next year’s presidential race, the choice facing Florida’s delegation is particularly fraught. The battleground state is home to Donald Trump and his most formidable potential rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis. But since news broke last month of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal prosecution of Trump, more of the Sunshine State’s federal lawmakers are abandoning their positions of neutrality.

In recent weeks, both endorsed by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Byron Donalds Trump, who joined Rep. Matt Gaetz is backing the former president against DeSantis, who has yet to declare his candidacy but is already laying the groundwork for a run.

Today, another member of Florida’s Republican House delegation, Rep. Cory Mills, the whole of Trump’s effort to take back the White House. “I think what’s happening in New York is a very unifying event,” Mills told TIME. “We need to stop fighting and come together and unite. And I think right now the person we need to unite is President Trump.

Mills, a freshman member representing a Central Florida district, will likely be joined by more than his peers. Other GOP Florida House lawmakers have told colleagues they will endorse Trump in the coming days or weeks, including Reps. Kat Cammack, Brian Mast, Vern Buchanan, and Greg Steube, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. None of those lawmakers returned requests for comment.

Trump endorsed Mills for his House seat in October, after Mills won a tight Republican primary. Luna, also a freshman, was one of several GOP candidates to draw endorsements from Trump and DeSantis last year. He announced his support for Trump’s second term last month, shortly after Bragg invited Trump to testify before a grand jury and the former president claimed on social media that he would be arrested on Tuesday.

“To be clear, I love them both. He’s my governor, and I’m going to support him every step of the way as governor,” Luna told TIME, referring to DeSantis, but saying he endorsed Trump in part because he believes the indictment shows he sees by Democrats as a threat. . . “I think we need someone who is going to be aggressive on foreign policy—and that’s Trump. You know, this is politics, you have to pick your side. I think he’s the person that’s needed ours now for this country.”

Donalds, a longtime ally of DeSantis, shocked the Florida political community last week when he endorsed Trump. Donalds and the governor have been close for years, with Donalds playing the role of DeSantis’ 2018 rival Andrew Gillum in debate preparation five years ago and introducing him at his election night victory party last last year. He is also considering his own bid for governor after DeSantis leaves office. Trump’s side early, Florida insiders say, could complicate his ability to secure DeSantis’ endorsement, should Donalds seek to succeed him.

Most of Florida’s 22 Republicans in Congress have not yet taken sides in the presidential race. But the delegation’s widening embrace of Trump this early marks a shift from the 2016 presidential election. In that race, a majority of state GOP House members backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at the beginning of the primary cycle. Most didn’t warm to Trump until after he effectively clinched the nomination.

Despite not formally launching a campaign for president, DeSantis already has the endorsements of two Republicans in Congress: Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. He is widely expected to formally declare his candidacy this spring, after the current Florida legislative session.

A recent poll of Florida Republicans shows DeSantis leading Trump by a five-point margin, but the governor’s numbers in his home state have been slipping since Trump stepped up his attacks on him. National polls have Trump leading by double digits. A Fox News survey released last week found that Trump won 54% of Republican voters nationwide, with just 24% for DeSantis.

DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment for this report.

Mills thinks a growing list of Florida Republicans who have rallied behind Trump could prevent DeSantis from challenging him this cycle, and instead wait until 2028 to mount a bid for White. House.

Six weeks ago, Mills said, he spoke with Trump and the two discussed holding an event at either Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach or the Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami. to launch the endorsements of many Florida legislators and others. elected official. Such an event could still happen, added Mills, an Army veteran who worked at the Department of Defense during the Trump Administration, but Bragg’s indictment prompted those endorsements to come more quickly. clips.

The gathering in Florida, which could be a full-fledged Trump rally, will “hopefully encourage our governor to continue to be a fantastic governor and run our state,” Mills said. “And then, after the president finishes his four-year term, step in to keep the farmer in the right direction for the next eight years. America needs 12 years of leadership—not four and not eight.”

Mills isn’t the only one suggesting DeSantis should stop. “I think DeSantis, if he waits, has a bright future,” Luna said. “But I think right now, in terms of what we need for the country, I think it’s Trump.”

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