Desantis, Fellow Republicans In Standoff Over Trump Agenda: ‘mommy And Daddy Are Fighting’

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — With Donald Trump now in the White House, Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted Florida to be the state that led the nation in enacting the MAGA agenda.

But it seems the normally compliant Florida Legislature has other ideas.

Monday will kick off a special session in Tallahassee, where DeSantis is facing his biggest hurdle since ending his 2024 presidential campaign in trying to work with fellow Republicans. He wants legislators to pass measures on illegal immigration to support Trump’s executive orders and mass deportation plans, and to enact sweeping changes that could make ballot initiatives more difficult to pass.

But he had to force lawmakers to travel into town as GOP legislative leaders said the work could wait until the regular policymaking period in March. And once lawmakers get to Florida’s capital, it’s still not clear they’ll do what DeSantis wants — or instead opt to publicly push back against the governor.

It’s a staggering turn of events for a governor used to getting his own way — and a test of his national staying power as he stares down the end of his term in two years.

Faced with resistance, DeSantis has dug in. On Thursday, he warned that anyone who stood in his way would pay the price politically. And he said that if he didn’t get what he wanted this week, he would just call another special session.

“I’m not letting go,” DeSantis said. “I‘m not going to wait six months.”

But the strategy hasn’t worked so far. The governor pushed forward with the special session without negotiating with legislative leaders ahead of time. He didn’t let them know he was going to call the Legislature back to Tallahassee until minutes before he held a press conference, according to a statement from two spokespersons for the state’s legislative leaders.

In a remarkable memo, state House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton reminded the governor that it’s up to lawmakers to decide what bills to pass and when to pass them. It’s another reminder that DeSantis’ political clout has waned since he exited the presidential race a year ago.

The dispute has left many rank-and-file Republican lawmakers tearing their hair out, with one texting POLITICO that the whole situation had devolved into a “shit show.” Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are happy to just watch the infighting; they’re too outnumbered by the GOP supermajority to make any kind of a difference.

“I’m going to have on my finest suit,” said state Sen. Shevrin Jones (D-Miami Gardens). “That’s what my grandfather used to say when something was about to go down.”

“Mommy and daddy are fighting,” state Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo said. “And they have to consume for more power, more relevance, more attention.”

“We’re all grown-ups, so there are some adults in the room,” he continued. “The Senate president and the speaker really probably need to get together on what they'll agree to do.”

The frustration continued to mount over the weekend, as three Republican legislators told POLITICO on Saturday that they couldn’t even file bills related to the special session.

By Sunday, however, the billing filing systems appeared to be working, and numerous bills were filed by legislators allied with DeSantis and supportive of his special session request.

One Republican House member, granted anonymity to detail private discussions, said GOP legislators don’t necessarily disagree with some of the ideas suggested by DeSantis — but they don’t view enacting the policies as an emergency. Instead, the member said, the situation is a tug-of-war between Albritton, Perez and DeSantis that needs to be sorted out.

“The memo that Danny and Ben put out was procedural, but what the governor is doing is political theater,” the member said. But, the legislator added about the governor: “No one feels the need to cover for him politically. He’s not the best politician. He’s a bull in every china shop.”

Since announcing the special session, DeSantis has pressured lawmakers on social media, during press conferences and in Fox News appearances. He had handpicked agency officials agitate about illegal immigration while testifying during committee meetings scheduled to focus on other topics.

And when that didn’t work, he put lawmakers on blast. He sent text messages to constituents through the Republican Party of Florida that read “Trump and DeSantis need you.” The texts included lawmakers’ phone numbers and urged recipients to call their representatives and press them to “act now to stop the illegal immigration crisis!”

Doubling down, DeSantis emailed a plea to grassroots leaders, then held an emergency Zoom meeting with Republican Party of Florida members Thursday morning. He urged them to “reach out to legislators and tell them they need to make a commitment to doing this, preferably public,” said Anthony Sabatini, a former Republican state representative from Lake County who was on the call and supports the governor’s position.

State party chair Evan Power said the governor, as head of the Republican Party of Florida, had flexibility to use his own resources raised on behalf of the party to communicate his message to constituents. Despite the messaging, RPOF is staying neutral on whether to have a special session, though Power pointed out that illegal immigration topped voter concerns and that GOP messaging on the issue led to victories up and down the ballot.

“I think the Legislature is prepared to deliver,” he said. “The question is over timing.”

State Sen. Randy Fine (R-Melbourne Beach) said he and others took issue with the scheduling of the session, citing the high price tag of bringing members into town on a week when committees hadn’t originally been scheduled to meet. Most lawmakers have jobs outside of their legislative duties, Fine pointed out, deriding DeSantis’ “big government philosophy.” It was a “gimmick,” he added, for DeSantis to call for a special session when bills weren’t written yet.

So far, all that’s known about the session is that legislators will convene on Monday morning, according to a memo distributed Friday. Beyond that, even Republican lawmakers don’t seem to have any insight into what to expect.

Rep. Dean Black (R-Jacksonville) said he was confident Perez would “make the right decisions” and “make sure we use our time wisely.”

“I expect there will be meaningful work and it will be well thought out,” he said.

“Regardless of the topic, I don’t think anyone would like to have a special session,” acknowledged state Rep. Toby Overdorf (R-Palm City). “But we realize this is something that sometimes happens, and if the governor feels it’s something that needs to be addressed sooner than regular [session], then I’m sure the speaker will address it and we’ll be supporting the overall message of President Trump.”

While the governor has talked about the session in broad strokes, some of his proposals have also raised eyebrows. He initially proposed criminally charging police officers and elected officials if they did not fully cooperate with federal immigration officials. The governor’s ballot initiative changes would have far-reaching consequences.

But Trump publicly backed the governor over Truth Social — just a day after legislative leaders called the session “irresponsible” and “premature” — and encouraged other states to follow his lead. DeSantis was golfing with Trump in Palm Beach when he fired off his social media post, the governor revealed in a podcast interview with Dana Loesch.

State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill), who agreed with DeSantis early on about having a special session, said Trump’s support helped bring some other lawmakers along. He pointed out that the governor openly said he’d been speaking with Trump and his policy team.

“The president has four short years to accomplish all his lofty, aggressive goals,” Ingoglia said. “We don't have time to waste. I stand with the governor in having a special session on this. We need to be aggressive on this and, quite frankly, Florida needs to lead. We cannot wait.”

The impasse is a remarkable turnaround for DeSantis, who won the 2018 race for governor with key support from Trump during the GOP primary. DeSantis became a rising conservative star during the Covid-19 pandemic and has used his time in the governor’s mansion to become arguably the most powerful governor in state history. He was able to swing legislators into action on everything from abortion to race and gender issues ahead of a presidential bid.

Now, with DeSantis in lockstep with Trump and his policy proposals, lawmakers risk seeming opposed to the president’s agenda on the heels of him winning Florida by 13 percentage points. One DeSantis ally in the Legislature, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said legislative leaders should have picked a different battle.

“If they wanted to assert their power over the governor, this was the dumbest issue to do it over: illegal immigration,” the person said, “because they can’t win, politically or policy-wise.”

Isa Domíguez contributed to this report.