Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t back Polk City Republican Josie Tomkow in the Senate District 14 special election she narrowly lost last week because she often didn’t support his agenda, he told reporters Tuesday.
“I was not involved at all in that race,” DeSantis said during a bill signing event in Tampa. “When I get behind a candidate I’m telling voters that this is somebody that shares my values and shares our goals for the state of Florida. You have a candidate that does not do that I am not going to be supporting them and that’s what happened in that race.”
Tomkow was a former House member and part of the leadership team of House Speaker Daniel Perez, with whom DeSantis has clashed on several issues in the last 13 months.
Notably, DeSantis has castigated House Republicans for initially rejecting his push for strict immigration enforcement measures at the state level, then overriding a handful of line-item vetoes (the Senate only went along with one of them) in 2025. Tomkow voted with House leadership in both cases.
“We as Republicans have shown how you win and win big, and it’s substance-driven, it’s leadership-driven it’s results-driven. When you steer away from that and you play some of the games you’re not going to have as good of results, that’s just the reality,” DeSantis said.
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The post ‘I was not involved’: DeSantis distances himself from GOP special election loss appeared first on Orlando Weekly.