The decision is expected to be made by early January. This comes in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's official nomination of Rubio, a three-term senator from Florida and a senior Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, to serve as secretary of state in his forthcoming administration.
According to Fox News, DeSantis stated, "Senator Marco Rubio is expected to resign from the Senate to assume duties as Secretary of State when the Trump administration takes power on January 20th, creating a vacancy roughly two months from today." The governor's office has already begun the process of vetting potential candidates for the position. "We have already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting. More extensive vetting and candidate interviews will be conducted over the next few weeks, with a selection likely made by the beginning of January," DeSantis added.
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The governor's announcement comes amidst recommendations from key Trump allies that Lara Trump, Republican National Committee co-chair and the president-elect's daughter-in-law, be appointed by DeSantis to fill Rubio's seat for the next two years. Advocates for Lara Trump include Florida's other GOP member of the U.S. Senate, Senator Rick Scott, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Katie Britt of Alabama, and Representative Anna Paulina Lune of Florida.
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Despite past disagreements with the former president during the contentious 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, DeSantis has since endorsed Trump and assisted in fundraising for the Republican nominee's general election campaign. "Florida deserves a Senator who will help President Trump deliver on his election mandate, be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and has a proven record of results," DeSantis declared.
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While there are calls for Lara Trump to fill Rubio's seat, DeSantis' statement suggests that he will not be rushed into making a decision. A source close to DeSantis simply stated, "the statement speaks for itself."
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Under Florida law, the governor has the authority to temporarily appoint someone to fill the vacant Senate seat until the next regularly scheduled general election, which will be held in 2026. Other potential replacements for Rubio include DeSantis’s chief of staff James Uthmeier, Lt. Governor Jeanette Nuñez, state Attorney General Ashley Moody, outgoing Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, and former state House Speaker Jose Oliva.
