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Is Ron DeSantis just Trump 2.0, or something else entirely? Republicans are anxious to find out

“Folks who were with Trump had already started to migrate to DeSantis over the last couple of years, but the midterms accelerated that migration dramatically,” said Nick Iarossi, a 44-year-old lobbyist who has worked as a fundraiser for Mr. DeSantis, at his office near the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee.

 “It’s not that they dislike Trump. They are just doubting his ability to win a general election. Republicans are tired of losing.”

 “COVID created this perfect storm. People took notice of their lack of personal freedoms, and also the type of content and education their kids were seeing on TV and receiving at school,” Mr. Iarossi said. “It created this big snapback to the right.”

 Mr. Iarossi, the DeSantis fundraiser, said the Governor simply refuses to be an “inauthentically jovial political type” and “doesn’t consider it his job to put on a charm offensive.” His focus, instead, is on his goals. “He asks tough questions. If you talk to him about an issue, you better be really well-prepared, because he will be. His retention level is very high. He reads non-stop,” Mr. Iarossi said.

 In contrast with Mr. Trump’s wild personal life, Mr. Iarossi characterized Mr. DeSantis’s as sedate. Outside work, he spends his time at home with his wife, Casey, and their three children. His primary interests are talking sports and playing golf.

Sarasota School Board set to discuss superintendent search at next meeting

The Sarasota County School Board is scheduled to discuss the upcoming superintendent search and appointing an interim to the position at its upcoming meeting Jan. 17, according to the posted agenda.

The meeting follows the hasty removal of the district's previous superintendent, Brennan Asplen, who served the district since 2020. The acting superintendent ahead of Tuesday's meeting was Chris Renouf, who was an assistant superintendent before Asplen's removal. Renouf was appointed to the position immediately following Asplen's acceptance of his separation agreement Dec. 13, but was only intended to hold the position until a more permanent option could be found following the holiday break.

Potential appointees to the position were unclear as of Friday, but the board is scheduled to meet for a work session ahead of Tuesday's meeting where it will discuss the appointment along with more details about the superintendent search.

Jacksonville Sheriff, other constitutional officers elected with no opposition

The qualifying deadline for Jacksonville’s municipal elections in March has come and gone as of noon Friday, and some candidates have been elected to four-year terms starting in July with no opposition.

A number of those candidates are countywide.

Sheriff T.K. Waters is likely the most prominent of these names.

Waters, a Republican who was elected to finish the truncated term of former Sheriff Mike Williams in November’s Special Election, will not face a second challenge from Democrat Lakesha Burton, who came within 10 points of victory last year.

Burton told reporters this week she didn’t have a path to winning. She had opened a campaign account the week before, raising speculation a rematch was imminent.

Nick DiCeglie carries Jeff Brandes’ TBARTA torch, again files to repeal agency

Sen. Nick DiCeglie, newly elected to the state’s upper chamber, has filed a bill to repeal the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, or TBARTA. 

The bill (SB 198) calls for the dissolution of TBARTA as well as the discharge or provisions for the organization’s “debts, obligations, and other liabilities.”

It would reallocate TBARTA assets “such that each local general-purpose government represented on the authority’s board receives a distribution generally in proportion to each entity’s contribution to the acquisition of the assets.”

“TBARTA has shifted its focus to a planning agency instead of one focused on actionable and deliverable transportation initiatives, which is why state funding has been vetoed in four of the past five legislative sessions. Now is the time to dissolve TBARTA, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Legislature to do just that,” DiCeglie told Florida Politics.