Florida's Latest News

DC lobbying giant adds Florida firepower

An influential Florida lobbyist is joining one of Washington’s biggest lobbying firms, a powerful addition as the Sunshine State is poised to play an outsized role in the incoming Trump administration.

BGR Group is bringing in Nick Iarossi as a managing director, The Hill has exclusively learned. Bob Wood, chair and CEO of BGR Group, called Iarossi “an outstanding political talent who has helped build one of the most successful government affairs firms in Florida history.”

Iarossi, a founding member of the Florida-based lobbying and public affairs firm Capital City Consulting, has worked with the campaign and inaugural committees of some of the state’s biggest political names, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R), Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and President-elect Trump.

“I’ve played an active role on the finance side [of the Trump campaign], raising money for Trump 47, raising money for the transition, and I’m going to help raise money for the inaugural now,” said Iarossi, who spoke with The Hill from Milan, where he was accompanying DeSantis on a trade mission.

He co-chaired the national finance committee for DeSantis’s presidential bid and served as the inaugural co-chair and inaugural finance chair for both of his gubernatorial inaugurations.

Trump taps former lawmaker and reality TV star for Transportation

President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate former lawmaker and Fox News contributor Sean Duffy, who also had a turn on MTV’s “Real World,” to be the next secretary of Transportation.

In an announcement posted to Truth Social, Trump applauded Duffy’s congressional relationships and expressed faith in his ability to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, adding that he will “greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”

If he’s confirmed, Duffy will take the helm of an agency that oversees the safety of Americans on roads, rails, buses, airplanes and hazardous materials transportation. Duffy inherits a department in the middle of dealing with a rash of near-collisions on runways across the country, aging aviation equipment and an overworked cadre of air traffic controllers.

He also would take the reins in the middle of rolling out the billions in spending made available by the 2021 infrastructure law, which Republicans on Capitol Hill have threatened to try to gut.

Duffy’s name had surfaced as a potential pick over the weekend. He ultimately got the nod despite having criticized Trump in the past — he told Fox News in 2017 that a debt ceiling deal Trump struck with Democrats was a “bad,” “foolish” deal that “missed the target.”

Lawmakers in Tallahassee for power transfer

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday.

The new Legislature is descending on Tallahassee today for a one-day organizing session that’ll set the stage for next year.

The day will be full of pomp and circumstance. Florida Senate President-Designate BEN ALBRITTON and Florida House Speaker-Designate DANNY PEREZ will be sworn in and deliver speeches, and formally take over as leaders of their respective chambers. The ceremonies turn them into two of the most powerful people in state government, with a Republican supermajority behind them. (Follow along on the Florida Channel.)

Albritton’s speech will contain several key themes for rural and agricultural Florida, spokesperson KATIE BETTA told Playbook. A citrus farmer by trade from Wauchula, Albritton will pledge a renewed focus on preserving rural Florida through new technology opportunities in the areas of commerce, education and health care.

He’ll also talk about focusing on water improvements and pledge to do everything he can to save Florida’s citrus industry, which has suffered in the midst of hurricanes and a serious bacterial infection known as greening.

‘Rural Renaissance’: Ben Albritton promises focus on strengthening agriculture

The Wauchula Republican formally took the gavel as Senate President and laid out a Heartland-focused agenda.

Senate President Ben Albritton is promising a “Rural Renaissance” during the new legislative term.

At an Organizational Session in Tallahassee, the Wauchula Republican formally took the gavel in the upper chamber of the Legislature. And while he made clear he will pursue a conservative mandate delivered by Florida voters on Nov. 5, the longtime citrus grower promised special attention on his Heartland home and similar regions of the state not normally featured on postcards.

“I’m a proud son of rural Florida, Florida’s Heartland, six generations deep,” Albritton said.

“Our small, tight-knit, legacy communities are filled with some of the nicest, hardworking people you will ever find. Rural communities look after one another. They’d give their last dollar and even the shirt off their own back to help a neighbor in need. Our rural communities are full of opportunity. When I travel across the Panhandle, the Big Bend and the Heartland, I see so much of that unrealized opportunity.”