Sarasota Republican Joe Gruters, the Senate sponsor of the illegal immigration bill passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature this week over the objections of Ron DeSantis, said Friday that he feels bad for the nearly 100 Republicans who endorsed the governor for president two years ago.
That’s because the governor is now attacking them on a near daily basis for rejecting his own immigration proposal, Gruters says.
“Listen, who I feel bad for are the hundred members of the Legislature who endorsed Ron DeSantis that are now at odds with him,” Gruters told this reporter during an interview broadcast on WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa on Friday morning.
“Those 100 members of the Legislature that put their necks out on the line to help the governor, and now, rather than working with the Legislature and trying to find common-sense solutions, he is bullying them and trying to beat them up,” said Gruters.
The senator is one of a minority of Republicans in the Legislature who endorsed Donald Trump over DeSantis early in the GOP presidential primary sweepstakes in 2023. (The Phoenix reported in May 2023 that 99 of then 112 Republicans serving in the Florida Legislature had endorsed DeSantis for president).
DeSantis traveled to the Panhandle on Friday to once again use the power of his bully pulpit to urge Floridians to accept their “marching orders” and contact the massive number of Republican lawmakers in the Legislature who voted to support the alternative bill.
That measure, advanced by House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton, would crack down on illegal immigration and make Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson the liaison between state government and the Trump administration in immigration enforcement. It passed on an 82-30 vote in the House and 21-16 in the Senate.
DeSantis has been making the rounds on conservative media all week to blast the bill as “weak” and has said he will veto it once it reaches his desk.
If he does veto the bill, the House and Senate could try to override if they receive two-thirds support in both chambers. Gruters acknowledged Friday that he doesn’t know if that is possible.
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to override it, but listen, I think that at the end of the day, we have to help the president out. We have to come together,” he said.
“We’re going to continue to work to do what the president wants, and so I don’t know exactly what will happen in terms of my Senate colleagues through the leadership, but I know that I’m fully committed to making sure that we get the president whatever he needs to do.”
The governor and legislative leaders have battled it out all week regarding who has the tougher bill cracking down on undocumented immigrants and would better complement President Trump’s executive orders to enact a massive deportation effort.
Gruters’ close relationship with Trump is well known. A former Republican Party of Florida chairman, he co-chaired Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign (with Susan Wiles, now Trump’s chief of staff) and chaired his 2020 effort in the Sunshine State. And Trump has already endorsed Gruters in his bid to become Florida’s chief financial officer in 2026.
But Gruters and others are being attacked online by supporters of DeSantis.
For example, the group America First Insight, an organization that says that it is dedicated to endorsing and supporting candidates who prioritize “America First” principles, announced this week that they had “revoked” their previous endorsement of Gruters for CFO.
“Instead of fighting for strong, enforceable policies to secure Florida’s future, he pushed forward a bill that weakened our state’s stance on illegal immigration at a time when bold action was needed,” the group wrote on X.
Gruters said “there’s no doubt that the governor’s proposals are good,” but so is the measure that he sponsored and the Legislature passed this week.
“We have families that squabble once in a while,” he said about the rupture in GOP unity. “We’re going to get past this. We’re going to come together, and the most important thing is that we do the absolute best job on behalf of the citizens of Florida regardless of some of these minor battles that we’re having right now.”
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