There is a necessary precondition before he challenges the Governor’s handpicked selection though.
While nothing is imminent, the launch of a new political committee suggests Republicans may have a choice ahead in the race for Chief Financial Officer.
As subscribers to Florida Politics’ text service learned first, “Friends of Kevin Steele[1]” was former Friday, in what could be a precursor to the Hudson Republican entering the race against appointed incumbent Blaise Ingoglia[2], assuming President Donald Trump[3] ultimately endorses him.
While nothing is guaranteed, we reported last month that Team Trump was encouraging Steele to look at the race.
Steele was one of several Florida lawmakers in Washington this month meeting at the White House with Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“My meetings at the White House made clear that Florida needs a CFO who won’t gamble with our future,” Steele told Florida Politics, a clear shot at Ingoglia.
Raised in Tampa[4], Steele attended both Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida, where he earned a degree in business management. After stints at GTE and a start-up called Z-tel, Steele started his own health care technology company, DataLink, in 2001.
Ingoglia isn’t the only 2026 Cabinet incumbent the White House is potentially targeting. Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez was also among those visiting Trump and Vance this week and is similarly being courted[5] to run for state Attorney General. If that candidacy comes to fruition, it would set up another competitive GOP challenge for DeSantis’ hand-picked Attorney General, James Uthmeier.
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A.G. Gancarski, Peter Schorsch, and Janelle Irwin Taylor contributed reporting.
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References
- ^ Kevin Steele (www.flhouse.gov)
- ^ Blaise Ingoglia (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ Donald Trump (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ Raised in Tampa (kevinsteelefl.com)
- ^ similarly being courted (floridapolitics.com)