Congress
Trump is loading his administration up with Floridians. Is Washington ready?
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.
Adam Hamilton raised $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2026 across his Senate campaign and his joint fundraising committees, his campaign tells Blue Light News, a significant haul for the Kansas Democrat.
The fundraising total illustrates Democrats’ newfound bullishness about flipping a Senate seat in the deep-red state for the first time since 1932.
“This grassroots support sends a clear message: with three weeks until Election Day, Adam Hamilton is building the momentum to win,” said Hamilton campaign spokesperson Tyson Brody.
Hamilton’s third-quarter figure is nearly triple his $3.66 million second-quarter total. His campaign did not provide a current cash-on-hand total.
National Democrats began pumping money into Kansas in recent days, a sign of their growing hopes that Hamilton could win. Last week, Senate Majority PAC — Senate Democrats’ top super PAC — reserved $5 million in television ads backing Hamilton. American Bridge PAC and Lower Costs Now, a new group affiliated with former Vice President Kamala Harris’ super PAC, have spent in Kansas in recent weeks.
Republicans have also flocked to Kansas to prop up Marshall: Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate GOP’s top PAC, has spent or reserved nearly $11 million backing Marshall in the past week, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
“It took us five months to raise $15 million. [Marshall] got it in a day,” Hamilton said at a campaign event in Lawrence, Kansas on Monday. “So please help us.”
Marshall’s campaign has yet to release his third-quarter fundraising totals. As of mid-July, Marshall had over $5 million in the bank to $1.73 million for Hamilton.
A bipartisan Senate duo is urging Trump national security officials to “bring its full capacities to bear” to stave off threats posed by artificial intelligence — sooner rather than later.
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who serves on the Senate Armed Services cybersecurity subcommittee, are calling for a full government response to a growing number of cybersecurity breaches.
“Recent AI security incidents should serve as a warning,” the senators wrote in a Tuesday letter to Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and White House Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. “Advanced AI agents have escaped testing environments, bypassed safeguards, and gained unauthorized access to real-world systems owned by government agencies and private organizations.”
Spokespeople for Clayton and Kratsios did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Their letter comes as lawmakers struggle to hash out what legislation on AI safety, if any, might look like. Members are currently in recess ahead of the November elections and there’s little hope progress can be made by the year’s end.
But those lawmakers who have been engaged on the topic for years now have mapped out administrative actions the Trump administration could move on now, without waiting on Congress.
The Cantwell and Rounds priorities include: strengthening federal AI safety and security standards at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST; expanding independent testing capabilities at the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence, Department of Energy and the national labs; and working with the tech industry to develop and deploy defensive AI tools.
Specifically, the senators wrote, new NIST standards should address the risks posed by advanced AI capabilities, including the “potential misuse by malicious actors” to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks, automate attacks at scale and agents that threaten external systems and critical infrastructure.
They also said the federal government capacity should be complemented by universities and other research organizations, as well as by private sector, third-party evaluators.
Finally, they point to ways the government could use existing programs at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work with AI labs to help detect threats and reinforce vulnerable systems.
A bipartisan group of senators urged President Donald Trump to rescind his recent diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, amid bubbling anger on Capitol Hill about Trump’s announcement.
In a letter sent to the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators warned that the president’s deal with Russia will not “achieve just ends” or benefit Americans.
“Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”
On Sunday, a smaller group of senators called on the president to “immediately reverse course” on the plan in a statement. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — who signed on to both — said Sunday there may be “a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump announced in a social media post on Friday that Russia would “immediately supply” diesel fuel to global markets — including potentially the U.S. — to help relieve high prices driven, in part, by the ongoing war with Iran. Though Trump has repeatedly defended the U.S.’s actions against Iran, on Saturday he demanded an end to Ukrainian drone strikes that have crippled Russian oil refineries that he argues have caused the record-high oil prices.
The senators on Tuesday argued that the deal with Russia will have a “negligible impact” on fuel prices while providing Putin with “more fuel to finance his war machine” as Russia continues its “brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians.”
The deal with Russia is a sharp pivot from a sweeping sanctions package signed into law last month. That legislation — championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — was meant to deplete Moscow’s resources by targeting Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of oil tankers. It drew widespread bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.
Senators on Tuesday referenced the package as they condemned Putin as a “tyrant.”
“For decades, America has stood as the bastion of freedom against tyranny, and American presidents have embodied our nation’s resistance to tyrants. Putin is a tyrant,” the letter reads. “Withdraw from this agreement, rescind General License No. 135, and execute the authorities provided under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. Maintain our legacy – and the duty America holds – as leader of the free world.”
In addition to Blumenthal and Tillis, Tuesday’s letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jack Reed (R.I.), and Chris Coons (Del.) and Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), Alan Armstrong (Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John Cornyn (Texas).
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