The Florida effect: How the Sunshine State is influencing President Donald Trump’s administration

Gov. Ron DeSantis promised to “make America Florida” during his failed 2024 presidential campaign. But it appears that it will be Donald Trump who will draw from the hard-right strategies tested out by his adopted home state.

With Donald J. Trump sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, there is growing consensus that the state of Florida appears to be the epicenter of Trump’s political agenda. 

According to Jamie Miller, a Sarasota-based political consultant, the Sunshine State, “is the model for conservative government” and what many are calling a blueprint for Trump’s second term in the White House. 

In fact, a number of political pundits claim that Florida – once the nation’s largest swing state – is “hot” right now.

“In many ways, you could say we’re going to make America Florida,” Rep. Dean Black, a Republican former chair of the Duval County GOP, told Politico.

While it was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who promised to “make America Florida” during his failed 2024 presidential campaign, it appears to many that it will be Trump who will draw from the hard-right strategies tested out by Florida.

“Florida has quite a bit of talent in terms of what this administration is looking for,” said Max Goodman, a Republican consultant in the southwest part of the state. 

The Florida playbook

During his inaugural speech, Trump touched on many of the hard-right policies promulgated in Florida over the six years of Gov. DeSantis’ leadership. 

Announcing he will send troops to the southern border to immediately stop “all illegal entry” into the US, Trump echoed the Republican governor’s stance on undocumented migrants. 

DeSantis famously called for ending birthright citizenship (something guaranteed by the constitution), cutting funding to “sanctuary jurisdictions,” as he campaigned for president in 2024, and promised that he would “embrace the use of deadly force and allow U.S. personnel to kill certain people trying to get past the border wall,” among other anti-immigration efforts. 

Trump also promised to end “education that teaches children to be ashamed of themselves,” a clear reference to DeSantis’ war on what he and the Republican-majority state government call the “woke agenda.” 

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In Florida, DeSantis installed a set of educational standards that required educators teaching Black history to tell students that the slaves benefited from slavery and promulgated the use in public school classrooms of scholastic material that downplays the role of racism in US history and modern society. DeSantis did this under the premise that learning about these dark chapters in US history would be “upsetting” to white children. 

Trump also said in his address to the nation that his presidency would end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that attempt to help stamp out race discrimination by encouraging government agencies to hire minority-owned contractors or minority employees. DEI has long been in DeSantis’ crossfire. In the spring of 2023, the Florida Republican signed a bill banning the practice at state universities.

Top Florida aides

Perhaps one of Trump’s strongest Florida allies is Susie Wiles, the first woman to serve as the White House chief of staff. The Florida resident helped oversee the Trump campaign’s strategy and messaging and also helped orchestrate some of the most crucial Republican wins in the Sunshine State.

Additionally, at least five Floridians were tapped by Trump for prominent jobs: Sen. Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, Florida Rep. Mike Walz for national security adviser, and former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Pam Bondi for Attorney General after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration as attorney general over ethics allegations.

Trump’s alignment with his adopted state seems like a given for those who have seen the Sunshine State transform from a swing state to a bastion of right-wing policies.

“Florida is the model for conservative government,” says Jamie Miller, a Sarasota-based political consultant, “and it has been for some time.”

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