Photo courts Republican Party of Sarasota: Sen. Joe Gruters at RNC.

Could a Panhandle congressional race mean Sarasota sees a Special Election of its own? That may sound like a non sequitur but it’s very much a possibility as political dominoes pushed by President-elect Donald Trump fall in Florida.

Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis qualified this month to run for former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s seat in the Pensacola area. Thanks to Florida’s resign-to-run law, Patronis had to resign his seat on the Florida Cabinet, effective March 31, to seek the federal office.

But that significantly impacts state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who already filed to run for CFO in 2026, when Patronis already faced term limits. With Trump’s endorsement in hand, Gruters appeared the frontrunner for the job in an increasingly Republican-controlled state.

But does Patronis’ early exit help or hurt Gruters? That’s up to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The sitting Governor will name an appointment to fill out the last nearly two years of Patronis’ term and could go in one of multiple directions.

He could seriously damage Gruters’ ambitions by naming a political rival to the job. State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, comes up in conversation frequently, and Ingoglia acted as DeSantis’ chief liaison rallying presidential endorsements in the Florida Senate as Gruters became the first Florida lawmaker to endorse Trump.

The Governor in the past always placed significant premium on appointing people with whom he enjoyst personal influence. He also prefers people who intend to run for the job, not merely act as caretakers until the next election. Appointing Ingoglia would set him up as an incumbent heading into 2026, where he could serve as a foil to Gruters’ greatest political strengths. Both men are former Republican Party of Florida chairs, with overlapping influence in the donor world. 

Gruters already made clear he will run regardless. He faces his own term limit in 2026 for his Senate seat, and at age 47 clearly has no intention to retire from politics.

“Whether via appointment or at the ballot box in 2026, I look forward to running for CFO as President Trump’s endorsed candidate,” Gruters posted on X. “President Trump’s resounding victory is a mandate for change in this country and I will never stop fighting to Make America Great Again!”

That raises another prospect. DeSantis could appoint Gruters, which is where things become interesting fast in Sarasota. Gruters would quit from his Senate seat early, sparking a Special Election to serve out his term. 

Would DeSantis do this? His relationship with Gruters as state chair always seemed inexplicably rocky. He responded to Gruters’ Trump endorsement by vetoing every Sarasota project in the state budget months later, as one example.

Yet, there’s reason to think he may elevate the Sarasota Senator to the post. Now that Trump has won the presidency, overtures have been made to bring DeSantis into the President’s fold again. Most overt were conversations between Trump and DeSantis about the Governor becoming Defense Secretary, but that seems contingent on if Trump’s first nominee, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, doesn’t survive a high-profile confirmation fight.

A Defense appointment likely would require DeSantis defer on some high-profile appointments to Trump. The most attention has fallen on a potential naming of Lara Trump to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in the Senate. But another goodwill move would be installing Gruters, a close Trump ally, as CFO. 

This would set off a political feeding frenzy in Sarasota as every state lawmaker and municipal elected official ponders a run, each capable of opening positions to further elections and appointments.

And the dominoes keep falling.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor of SRQ MEDIA.

Photo courts Republican Party of Sarasota: Sen. Joe Gruters at RNC.