Ron DeSantis

After the midterms' Democratic surge, DeSantis broke publicly with Washington Republicans, calling the results "a rebuke of the president and the Congress" and "close to an extinction-level event for Republicans," and warning the party may not regain Senate control until 2032. He condemned congressional insider trading and the congressional votes against releasing the Epstein files, blamed "crony capitalism," and argued Florida "held the line" even as Republicans lost their state House supermajority, attacking outgoing House Speaker Daniel Perez as "a rotten speaker" while his ally Byron Donalds won the governorship by about 1.3 points. His dissent drew a White House memo telling conservative groups their statements were being "monitored," and he stood with Vice President JD Vance in blaming Trump's Iran war for the losses.

DeSantis has made Trump's Iran war, Operation Epic Fury, his sharpest post-election target, calling it a drag on the Republican Party amid voter frustration over rising energy prices and an open-ended conflict. In a SiriusXM interview with Stephen A. Smith, he blamed the war for $4.11-a-gallon gas on Election Day, warned that refusing to admit it is "gaslighting" voters, and said a conflict that runs through the rest of the presidency would be "devastating" to the administration's ability to govern.

Reports have him contacting national consultants and starting super PAC fundraising for a 2028 run, and he has cast himself as the party's leading post-midterm alternative, calling the Democratic sweep "the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States." He denies the preparation, calling a Washington Post story fabricated "out of whole cloth" and insisting, "I have not contacted anyone about running for any office." CBS News reports Trump may be considering him to replace Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon once his term expires January 5, though neither the White House nor DeSantis has confirmed it; Trump has also reportedly tried to divert attention from his speeches to bolster Vice President JD Vance, saying "Maybe he won't run."

Amendment 3 passed with 62 percent, raising the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and DeSantis credits it for Florida's near-record 60.9 percent midterm turnout, saying without it "I don't know that we turn out the voters that we ended up turning out." He is calling a special session to pass a taxpayer bill of rights by January 1, intending to bar local governments from replacing as much as $12 billion a year in revenue with new taxes or fees, with a fund to cushion smaller counties: "That has to be done by January 1, and we will do it by January 1." Incoming House Speaker Sam Garrison says "I'd rather be right than be quick," incoming Senate President Jim Boyd wants implementation to wait until the legislature reconvenes in January, and local officials warn the cuts could gut services like mosquito control during a record dengue outbreak in the Tampa Bay region.

Florida carried out its 17th execution of 2026, James Robertson, under his accelerated death-penalty push, and he personally withdrew the death warrant for William Lee Thompson, citing concerns that Thompson may be insane. He terminated permits for Flock license-plate readers on state roads and is building a national anti-surveillance profile alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott, pushing a broad AI Bill of Rights and warning that the same camera network would have been "turned on people who were outside of lockdown orders in California" during COVID. As his term ends, 350Action unveiled a melting gallium statue of him in Tallahassee to protest a climate record that includes blocking municipal pollution reductions, and he answered, "I am not a global warming person, I don't want that label on me."