| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard and Kierra Frazier | LAST NIGHT — Former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for president for the third time.
|  Former President Donald Trump speaks during the final night of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., July 18, 2024. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | Good morning from Milwaukee and happy Friday. The Republican National Convention this week provided a veritable sampling of potential 2026 candidates for governor. Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who told Playbook no one would outwork him in whatever he decides to do next, had a saloon get-together with state party grassroots and lawmakers to kick off the week. He also held a counter-programing Harbor House seafood restaurant gathering Tuesday, the same night that Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson threw a country rock concert at the Harley Davidson Museum. In a video that went viral, Rep. Matt Gaetz taunted ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over how only one of them got a main-stage speaking slot. Rep. Mike Waltz took the stage during primetime Wednesday to share how Trump comforted families of service members killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal. The Republican Party of Florida hosted a lunch with Gov. Ron DeSantis ally Attorney General Ashley Moody and held a breakfast with Rep. Byron Donalds, who at one point engaged in one of Florida politicians’ favorite pastimes by taking digs at California. “Obviously, it's like a governor's audition, right? And they're all coming through,” said state Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota, who’s also a GOP national committeeman and already running for CFO in 2026. While some gathered here dismissed 2026 talk as too soon, anyone who’s willing to level about it will admit these gatherings are a great way to potentially catch fire with the rank-and-file, start schmoozing with donors and get lobbyists buzzing. Apparently — just on the heels of the vice presidential announcement — they’re already talking about whether Sen. Marco Rubio could be a possibility in two years. And Miami Mayor Francis Suarez used an NBC News interview during the convention to say he was considering running for governor himself. “It goes to show you what a deep bench Florida has,” Gruters said. “It really is remarkable how well positioned our state is, and how difficult it is to move up and get elected statewide in Florida because you have so many superstars.” Donalds also acknowledged to Playbook that he was thinking about running for governor, but stressed he was focused on helping Trump get elected in 2024. And while he said the week’s events provided a good way to get exposure, he insisted the best way to prepare for a run for office was to “just do your job.” “Just do the job that's in front of you, the one that you have, and then people start making decisions about what they want to do going forward,” he said. As Playbook has previously reported, former President Donald Trump asks Donalds about the 2026 race in front of donors. There, of course, is another thing all the prospects are thinking about: How to get Trump’s backing if they do decide to run, knowing how much it helped DeSantis in 2018. Gruters — who already has a Trump endorsement in the bag — called a Trump endorsement an “end all.” “Whoever gets Trump’s endorsement,” he said, “will win.” Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget in the campaign reporting that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com.
| | | | CHECK OUT WHAT YOU MISSED IN MILWAUKEE! Watch the full event from the CNN-POLITICO Grill at the RNC HERE.
The program featured Bayer’s Jessica Christiansen, senior vice president and head of crop science and sustainability communications, as well as a conversation with Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill for discussions about agriculture, food policy and how these issues will impact the November election. | | | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | | |  Ben Sasse is resigning as UF president. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | BREAKING OVERNIGHT — “Sasse resigning as UF president as family grapples with health issue,” reports POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury. “[Ben] Sasse, who has led UF for nearly two years as a highly touted hire heralded by the university and state, is stepping down to spend more time with his family. In a message to UF, Sasse said that his wife, Melissa, was recently diagnosed with epilepsy and has been ‘struggling with a new batch of memory issues’ that made him reconsider his position atop Florida’s flagship university.” The sad news was first reported by Florida Politics. NEEDS IMPROVEMENTS — “‘State of healthcare for women is in a fragile place’: Florida women are dying from preventable causes,” by South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Cindy Krischer Goodman. “Using 32 measures, The Commonwealth Fund, a private healthcare research foundation, ranks Florida in the bottom third of the country (39th) for how well the state’s health care system works for women ages 15 to 44. Overall, Florida has a higher than the U.S. average rate of women who lack insurance, die while pregnant, give birth without prenatal care, and succumb to breast and cervical cancer.”
| | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | ROAD CLOSED — “Police: Palm Beach road next to Mar-a-Lago to close through November for Trump security,” by Palm Beach Daily News’ Kristina Webb. “Citing ‘enhanced security measures’ following the attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump, officials will at 4 p.m. Saturday close a key road past his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach ‘until the November general election at a minimum,’ the Palm Beach Police Department announced Thursday.” NEW DIGS — “‘We are St. Pete!’: Rays stadium, redevelopment approved by city council,” by Tampa Bay Times’ Colleen Wright. “The St. Petersburg City Council narrowly approved a deal Thursday that would build a $1.3 billion stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays and a city-redefining project for the 65 acres around it called the Historic Gas Plant District.” AN ALZHEIMER’S AID — “New drug gives hope to South Floridians affected by Alzheimer’s,” by WLRN’s Verónica Zaragovia. “The new drug is bringing hope to hundreds of thousands of Floridians who have the disease or have loved ones who have been diagnosed with it. Alzheimer’s is a growing public health crisis in Florida, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The non-profit organization estimates that 580,000 people 65 years of age and older live with it in the state, and Miami-Dade County has the highest rate of people in that age group in the country.”
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | | | 
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried speaks out against Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and the Project 2025 agenda, Tuesday, July 9, 2024, during a news conference ahead of Trump's evening rally in Doral, Florida. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo | RIDIN’ WITH BIDEN — There may be a lot of chatter, speculation and reports about the prospect of President Joe Biden dropping his bid for a second term. But Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried is standing by him. “Joe Biden has beaten Trump before and I do believe he can do it again,” Fried said during a Thursday afternoon Zoom meeting with reporters. “President Biden has delivered for Florida and we need to deliver for him.” When pressed again on the issue Fried later did say that while she had “trust” in Biden, she said she was sure he is “hearing the same conversations and is going to make the right decision for our nation because he truly is a patriot and he loves this country.” Fried’s decision to not join the chorus of Democrats urging Biden to step down in the wake of his disastrous debate performance is in step with many other of the state’s Democrats, especially those in Congress. She has taken this stance even though many polls show Biden poised to lose Florida to Trump in November. A top pollster for Trump told Republicans this week the former president would win his adopted home state by “double digits.”Fried, however, pushed back on the naysayers by pointing to a couple of recent polls that have put Biden within four or six points of Trump in the state. — Gary Fineout ‘SANTIAGUEROS FOR TRUMP’ — “Why Hispanic immigrants who support Trump are embracing his hardline border stance,” by Miami Herald’s Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow and Syra Ortiz Blanes. “Though President Joe Biden remains likely to win a majority of the Hispanic vote nationally, a TelevisaUnivision poll released on Tuesday found Trump leading among Florida Latinos, nearly half of whom believe Republicans have a better handle on immigration and border security compared to Democrats.” MORE CALLS FOR UNITY — “Former Florida congressman says civility needs to return to politics,” by Spectrum Bay News 9 ‘s Jeff Van Sant. “[Dennis] Ross says it is time to put differences aside and for both political parties to do some soul searching — especially in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump.” FAMILY TIES — “‘Not from your own blood’: South Florida cousins fighting for election — for the same seat,” by South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Lisa J. Huriash. “Vice Mayor Andrea McGee, who represents the beachside area of District 1, said she was blindsided when a political supporter who lives down the street decided to run for the seat — because that candidate is also a first cousin… She said she never intended to cause a family rift, but the issue is bigger than the both of them.” VOTER DRIVES SHELVED — “Grassroots groups end voter registration drives, fearing Florida law pushed by GOP,” by USA Today Network — Florida’s John Kennedy and James Call. “The number of voters registered by so-called third-party organizations is down dramatically. Just over 7,000 voters have been enrolled through the end of June by these groups, compared with almost 60,000 during the 2020 presidential election year, state records show.” GOP TURNS ON ITS OWN — “Republican candidate in Central Florida attacked for ‘Chinese donors.’ His attacker? The GOP,” by the Orlando Sentinel’s Annie Martin. “It’s been a bracing dose of political reality for [Bowen] Kou, who thought he was making his run for an open and reliably red Senate seat as a mainstream representative of the GOP, campaigning on a platform of cutting regulations, stopping illegal immigration, protecting the rights of gun owners and banishing ‘woke ideology’ from public schools.” ON THE BALLOT — “Florida’s Amendment 1, explained,” by Tampa Bay Times’ Nina Moske. “The amendment would require school board candidates to disclose their political party. It would apply to elections during and after November 2026, as well as primaries leading up to the general election that year. The state Legislature passed the measure in 2023. It will need 60% voter approval in November to become part of the Florida constitution.”
| | DATELINE D.C. | | LOOKING FOR ANSWERS — “Rick Scott presses Joe Biden on Secret Service failings that led to Donald Trump shooting,” by Florida Politics’ A.G. Gancarski. “Scott wants FBI Director Christopher Wray, USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to ‘hold a daily public press conference to share updates and answer questions from the American people,’ and he has a number of questions that should be answered.”
|  Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump talks to Sen. Marco Rubio during the Republican National Convention Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. | Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo | AS BIDEN FACES MOUNTING PRESSURE FROM DEMS — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told reporters after the Republican Party of Florida breakfast on Thursday that if President Joe Biden withdraws from the 2024 race then he should also resign from the White House. “The question is, if he's not going to be their nominee because he's not up to it, how can he be our president for the next six months?” Rubio told reporters at the Republican Party of Florida breakfast. “If there's something wrong with you that doesn't allow you to run for president, how can you still be there as president? If they're going to remove him as nominee, they’ve got to remove him as president, and that's really bad for our country.” FUTURE PLANS? — Rubio didn’t rule out the possibility of joining a future Trump administration when Playbook asked him Wednesday whether he’d be interested in becoming secretary of state. “We'll see,” he said. “We've got to win first, and then we'll see what the world looks like at that point. If I've learned anything over the last few years, is — I don't really think too far ahead anymore, because things change very quickly and dynamics change very quickly.” GOOD SPORT — Rubio also praised the senator Trump did settle on — JD Vance of Ohio — as “a really good choice,” saying they’d worked together on policy. “And he doesn’t have a residency problem,” he added. Rubio, who was sitting with Trump in his private box on Wednesday night, said that when he was watching Vance deliver his acceptance speech he understood that a lot of Americans would be able to relate to his life story. “We're really at a time where people want to see their daily lives reflected in the priorities of our leaders,” he said. “That's why I think JD is going to be a tremendous asset to President Trump on the ticket.”
| | TRANSITION TIME | | — Dylan Smith is joining RH Strategic Communications as a senior public affairs strategist. He previously was comms director for Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), and is a Tom Suozzi alum.
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