Florida Republican Party is in total chaos
Just a year or two ago, the Republican Party of Florida had an iron grip over the state. Governor Ron DeSantis ruled the state like a petty dictator, and the state party was in lock step with him. But a lot’s happened since then.
First DeSantis bit off way more than he could chew. He declared war against Disney, which backfired and weakened him. And his 2024 campaign for President has been such a punchline, it’s severely weakened him, even within Florida. Then Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler famously got caught up in a sex and alleged assault scandal involving him, his wife, and another woman.
The rest of the Florida Republican Party has been looking for a back door to shove Ziegler out of, for fear that his scandals could weaken the party statewide. But Ziegler keeps refusing to resign. In a sign of how weak DeSantis has become, even he hasn’t been able to push Ziegler into resigning.
Now the Florida Republican Party has voted to strip Ziegler of his authority, without actually ousting him. This is the closest they can come, for now at least, to getting rid of their own state party leader.
So now the Florida Republican Party has a state party chair who’s under investigation for alleged rape but is still in office, and a Governor who’s become a national punchline. Republicans still have a voter demographic advantage in Florida heading into 2024 – but at this point they seem to be doing everything possible to squander it.
