Congress

Trump is loading his administration up with Floridians. Is Washington ready?

Published

2 years ago

November 26, 2024

Donald Trump adopted Florida as his home state. Now his second administration will look to transform the country in its image.

His new administration is loaded with politicians and operatives who cut their teeth in the Sunshine State — from incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; to Marco Rubio, the likely next secretary of State; and Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general Trump tapped to lead the Justice Department after the first Floridian he picked, Matt Gaetz, withdrew.

Trump filling his team with Floridians — with Mar-a-Lago serving as his home base — shows how his second term will be different than the first: one that values loyalty above all else, casting aside the need to win over different wings of a Republican Party. And it could be an even more pugnacious administration, filled with people who learned how to throw elbows in Florida first.

“Sure, they’re close to home, but Trump has known all of these people for years and they have gained his trust,” Blue Light News reporter Meridith McGraw said. “For Trump, trust and loyalty are everything.”

It will all amount to a huge political — and culture — shock to Washington, when Trump and his team come crashing back into town in less than two months.

To get a sense of what’s next, Blue Light News convened four reporters who have covered Trump’s political orbit, both in Florida and in Washington.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Trump has just absolutely loaded his administration up with Floridians. Is this about literal proximity to his base of operations or something more?

McGraw: First of all, let’s just go through the list of Floridians Trump has tapped so far for top roles in his next administration: Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Mike Waltz, Susie Wiles, and Pam Bondi. Am I missing anyone, Gary?

Sure, they’re close to home, but Trump has known all of these people for years and they have gained his trust. For Trump, trust and loyalty are everything. I was talking to a friend of Trump and Bondi’s last night, and they said the president-elect wants to be able to call up his Cabinet at any time for advice (much like he does with allies now) and so having a comfortable relationship is important.

Gary Fineout: There are others who have helped out Trump who also have a Florida connection such as James Blair, who was named deputy chief of staff. And Bondi has known Trump — and stood by Trump — for a while now. Early on she backed Jeb Bush, but after he left that race in 2016 she endorsed Trump quickly. She has never wavered and never supported, say, Ron DeSantis for president.

But to me the real point here is that Florida is now ground zero for Republicans in the U.S. The counter balance to California.

McGraw: Not Texas! That’s a conversation for another day, but it really feels like the real GOP center of gravity is in Florida not Texas these days.

Fineout: Well the president hasn’t been living in Texas.

What does the Florida takeover of the GOP — and soon Washington — mean? Is it just personnel or are we getting a different style of politics altogether?

Kimberly Leonard: It’s both. Wiles is a longtime Florida operative who has repeatedly recruited, coached and mentored people throughout their careers. So it makes sense that — as incoming chief of staff — she would continue turning to those longstanding relationships to build a team.

Culturally, Florida is very different from most of the U.S. It’s more out there, less risk averse. The news always seems replete with wild stories pouring out of our amazing state. Though Trump is obviously originally a creature of New York, he’s been snowbirding here a while, and in many ways he seems to fit the definition of the quintessential Florida Man.

Mia McCarthy: These Floridians are more likely to break the status quo when it comes to old school politics. And again, they’re loyal to Trump — I’d expect them to help the president carry out whatever priorities he has, even if it is against the political norm.

McGraw: I think Kimberly’s spot on — Susie Wiles’ influence is all over some of these picks. Wiles has gained a loyal following of operatives and politicians in Florida who have worked for her or worked with her.

It feels like this will be a bigger shift than Washington is prepared for, because Florida’s power is different in Congress, right?

McCarthy: Totally. What is somewhat ironic to me is that Florida has failed to hold onto power in Washington otherwise until this point. In Congress, they don’t have any major gavels or top leadership positions. That’s pretty weird for the second-largest Republican House delegation. (20 members!)

There have been unsuccessful attempts to rise in Congress — Rick Scott, a close ally of Trump, just ran to be Senate leader but was voted out in the first round the same day that Rep. Kat Cammack lost a bid for one of the top Republican positions in the House.

But also, a lot of Floridians have had their eyes elsewhere. Many Florida Republicans are hoping for a Trump admin job or Florida governor’s mansion, rather than working through the ranks of Congress.

Leonard: Trump has been president before, so they somewhat know what they’re in for, but this time he does seem to be — to borrow a phrase — “unburdened by what has been.”

Some of the folks he’s picking to fill his administration are going to be hard to confirm, and they’re far from the more traditional wing of the party. A couple even used to be Democrats.

We definitely saw with the Matt Gaetz pullout that the Senate at least is going to wield its power at times. There are also institutional systems and special interests in Washington that aren’t just going to stand by and let major overhauls happen to their areas, such as health care.

There’s one very important Floridian we’ve barely mentioned: Ron DeSantis. He ran against Trump and things got … chippy. Has he repaired that relationship?

Fineout: DeSantis ran against Trump and then quickly endorsed him after he got out of the race. And while he did raise money for the president, he did not really do any campaign events for him and instead he put his effort into defeating two amendments on the ballot in Florida.

There still appears to be a bit of distance between the two — and of course Wiles had a very public falling out with DeSantis, and there has been nothing to suggest it’s been patched up. It’s been interesting, however, to see Trump campaign and advocate for policies that are similar to ones that have already been tried in Florida. But for right now it appears DeSantis is going to remain a bit on the outside.

McGraw: I was interested to learn back in early September that Trump and DeSantis played golf together — oh to be a fly on that golf cart! The relationship between the two is not openly hostile as it once was, but I do think that whoever DeSantis picks to replace Rubio will send a message about how aligned he wants to be with Trump.

Leonard: Donors I talk to are split on what they think DeSantis needs to do moving forward. Some say they think he has enough cachet on his own to assert the DeSantis vision for Florida and for shaping the Republican Party, given that he did just defeat amendments on pot and abortion rights that otherwise tended to be broadly popular.

Others tell me they think he should play especially nice with Trump and try to extend an olive branch wherever possible. A clear opportunity to do so might be with appointing a Trump loyalist to Rubio’s soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat.

But does DeSantis really need to do that to guarantee his spot in the party? After all, he did rise to fame in the party when Trump was out of office. He does seem to have a pulse on the electorate, he’s still young and he still has two years left as governor to make a splash.

The Cabinet is mostly filled, but there’s still thousands of other positions across the administration. Any more names you hear might also be making the trip north?

McCarthy: Many see Florida as the GOP powerhouse Republicans want to take nationally. Can’t tell you how many Florida Republicans said “Make America Florida” to me in the past year. I think this is just the start.

Fineout: There are several others who I would keep an eye on, whether it’s long-time Wiles ally and sometimes DeSantis opponent state Sen. Joe Gruters — or heck even, say, Chris Kise, a former solicitor general in Florida who was part of Trump’s legal team.

I have also wondered about Carlos Muñiz. He’s currently on the Florida Supreme Court but he worked in the first Trump administration for Betsy DeVos.

Leonard: I’ve been likening our state to a staffing agency. It has a deep bench of Republicans who are eager to go to Washington to be a part of the MAGA movement. Readers can probably put together a great Bingo card on the list we assembled before.

Congress

Congressional Black Caucus members break with Jeffries, endorse against Thanedar in Michigan House race

Published

26 minutes ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other.

Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair of the CBC, and Lateefah Simon (Calif.) called McKinney a “fighter.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (Mich.) praised McKinney as “the only trusted candidate” in the race. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) touted McKinney for “never [losing] sight of the people.”

“We need Donavan in Congress,” said Pressley.

The race between McKinney and Thanedar, who was elected in 2022, is the latest battleground in the ongoing ideological clash between the Democratic establishment and its progressive flank.

McKinney is hoping to capitalize on the latest wave of progressive successes in primaries, but Thanedar retains the power of the incumbency — and the backing of House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar.

Thanedar’s 2022 election marked the first time since 1955 that the majority-Black city of Detroit didn’t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress. And he won two years ago only after Adam Hollier, who was viewed as his most credible primary challenger, was disqualified from the ballot.

“It’s not just about having Black representation, but that is a part of what appropriate representation looks for,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who had previously backed McKinney, told Blue Light News. “You have a majority-Black district, and I think that there is certainly an appetite to see that again, or to at least make sure that a Black candidate has the opportunity to present themselves.”

In a phone call, Thanedar emphasized that he has worked closely with members of the CBC during his time in office, noting that the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was a mentor of his and, in addition to Jeffries, he has the endorsement CBC members like Rep. Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.).

“I am fully aware that I am representing the Blackest city in America and I’m proud of it,” Thanedar, who is Indian-American, said. “My story is like Detroit’s story — I struggled through poverty, never say die, never gave up and I have that resilience that Detroit has. The resilience of Detroit is what my life is about.”

McKinney on Monday said he was “honored” by the endorsements.

“Millions of lives across the country have been made immeasurably better because of the hard work these members have done in Congress, and I look forward to working alongside these incredible leaders to pass critical legislation to protect voting rights, get big money out of our politics, and ensure all families have access to the resources they need to not just survive, but to truly thrive,” he said in a statement.

Congress

Fetterman says Democrats were ‘horribly wrong’ to try eliminating Senate filibuster

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is backpedaling on his previous calls to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate — which is a critical bulwark against “a fill-in-the-blank government with new laws, deregulation or procedures of its choosing,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday.

“A Senate without the filibuster [would become] a Senate that ignored the voices of the minority and everyday people,” he wrote, elaborating on previous comments. Last month, he told Katie Miller that Democrats were “so wrong” about opposing the filibuster.

“We cannot become a smaller version of the House of Representatives,” he wrote in his op-ed.

In 2022, Fetterman campaigned to abolish the filibuster, a 60-vote rule that effectively requires a supermajority to pass most legislation. His argument on the trail — which remains on his campaign website as of Monday afternoon — was that the rule stood “in the way of getting things done for Pennsylvanians.”

At that time, many Senate Democrats and activists argued the same publicly, as the party attempted to pass a sweeping overhaul of elections that Democrats said would better protect voting rights. But two then-Democratic senators, Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — protested against throwing out the rule, saying it would hurt the party’s priorities in the long run.

Ultimately the filibuster survived and Democrats did not pass their voting rights bill, with much of the party base heaping scorn on Manchin and Sinema.

Now, with Republicans holding a government trifecta, the power dynamic has flipped.

President Donald Trump is now urging Republican senators to kill the filibuster, which has stalled passage of the SAVE America Act. He turned the screws on Majority Leader John Thune on Monday, demanding that Thune keep the Senate in session until the GOP-backed elections bill passes.

“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The filibuster has been a block against GOP-championed causes, Fetterman argued: “We could have extreme policies such as nationwide abortion restrictions, backpedaling on LGBT rights, repeal of birthright citizenship and limited voting rights across the country. … Republicans could fundamentally change the entire government and country with a simple majority vote.”

With the midterms approaching, Democrats face a tight battle to win back the Senate. The next time they have a trifecta, the filibuster will — once again — be a thorn in the party’s side, complicating the passage of key priorities.

Democrats “will once again have to find common ground with our Republican colleagues,” Fetterman said. “We will need to abandon our worst impulses as a party and work together to find solutions to the problems Americans face.”

Congress

McConnell to remain in rehab, will skip Fancy Farm picnic in Kentucky

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Monday that he will remain in rehab as he continues to recover from a June fall that left him briefly unconscious.

In a statement, McConnell shared that he is “working hard” to return to a full schedule but remains in “intense physical therapy.”

The Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) confirmed that medical staff visit the senator daily to discuss “all aspects of his rehabilitation care” but added he is “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to office.”

“Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls,” the OAP said. “His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility.”

McConnell, 84, was rushed to the hospital on June 14 following the fall and what he described as a “mild case of pneumonia.” In a letter to constituents earlier this month, he said that while he was briefly knocked unconscious, he did not suffer any broken bones, a stroke or a heart attack. It is unclear when McConnell was discharged.

But his continued rehab stay means McConnell will miss Kentucky’s premier political event: the annual Fancy Farm Picnic.

“There’s no place I’d rather be on the first Saturday in August than with the good people of western Kentucky, feasting on pork and mutton,” McConnell said Monday. “I hate that I’ll miss the fun this year, but I’m sending my best wishes to the St. Jerome community for a successful picnic.”

McConnell, who is retiring when his current term concludes in January, has faced a series of health challenges in recent years. In 2023, he froze twice while speaking to reporters. He has also experienced several other falls and, at one point, used a wheelchair as what his office called a precautionary measure.