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    • DeSantis will choose the replacement for the US Senate if Rubio gets a job for Trump
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    DeSantis will choose the replacement for the US Senate if Rubio gets a job for Trump

    Vaseline Posted on

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    Gov. Ron DeSantis could soon fill a Marco Rubio-sized hole in the U.S. Senate.

    Rubio is widely rumored to be Donald Trump’s next secretary of state. Those same reports say the decision is not final, but if Rubio is selected and confirmed by his colleagues in the US Senate, DeSantis would be allowed to appoint his replacement.

    It would present DeSantis, who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination in 2024 and lost, with a major decision that could affect his possible future ambitions to run for president in 2028.

    The person selected would serve until 2026, when a special election would be held to serve out the remaining two years of Rubio’s term. DeSantis, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, could pick someone who would run for office in 2026, or someone who would be a placeholder if he tries to return to Washington ahead of a possible run for president in 2028.

    The initial list of possible choices includes Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier.

    Nuñez is from Miami and, like Rubio, has Cuban-American descent.

    Moody has been a DeSantis loyalist, and Uthmeier just helped lead the effort to kill a pair of ballot measures that DeSantis opposed that aimed to legalize recreational marijuana and build abortion rights into the state constitution.

    Could DeSantis appoint himself the next U.S. Senator?

    DeSantis could also appoint himself or his wife, Casey, but DeSantis has often joked about the “recovery” of his time in Congress, saying he prefers to be a state administrator who can get more done.

    There is also pressure that Trump and his allies could put on DeSantis to appoint a preferred replacement. The name of Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump — a Florida resident and co-chair of the Republican National Committee — is already being floated by his supporters.

    Lara Trump “should be (DeSantis)’s nominated replacement for Rubio,” said U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-St. Petersburg, posted on X. “She will keep the seat and avoid a messy primary for FLORIDA. Well spoken. A bull’s-eye for election integrity. Etc.”

    It’s fair to say that DeSantis has looked at Rubio’s Senate seat before.

    In 2016, two years before he ran for governor, he initially ran for the seat Rubio said he would leave while running for president that year. Rubio initially said he would not run for re-election if he lost the bid for the Republican nomination, but changed his mind.

    Rubio’s decision led DeSantis to choose to run for re-election to the U.S. House instead.

    The last time a sitting Florida governor filled a vacancy in the U.S. Senate was in 2009, when then-Gov. Charlie Crist chose Chief of Staff George LeMieux to replace U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, who resigned.

    Crist ran for the seat in 2010, but as Rubio gained increasing support within the Republican Party, Crist left the party to run as an independent and ultimately lost to Rubio.

    DeSantis is on a trade mission in Italy and won’t return to Florida until Friday. When he returns, he may have an open Senate seat across from him.

    He would also have to call a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-St. Augustine Beach, whom Trump has asked to become National Security Advisor.

    Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.

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