In a matter of days this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dragged lawmakers to Tallahassee, handed them an aggressively gerrymandered congressional map, strong-armed the Republican-controlled legislature into backing it and tilted the midterm battlefield toward his party.
It was a familiar display of the raw political power that DeSantis once used to fight culture wars and notch conservative victories as he chased the presidency. Now, he is flexing that same authority in service of the man who dimmed his White House dreams — but who could yet revive them: President Donald Trump.
Over the past 16 months, few, if any, Republicans outside Washington have proven more indispensable to Trump than DeSantis. He has enthusiastically aided the federal immigration crackdown — forcing law enforcement to cooperate with Trump’s ICE, launching a statewide dragnet that has troubled even deeply conservative sheriffs and erecting a costly detention center on Florida swampland that became known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” He created a Florida version of the Department of Government Efficiency, echoed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in pushing to end school vaccine requirements, is helping the White House rewrite the rules for how colleges pay student-athletes and arranged for the state to hand over a prime piece of Miami waterfront to a foundation planning Trump’s presidential library.
DeSantis’ realignment with Trump comes as uncertainty hangs over his political future. His second term as governor ends in January, leaving him two plausible paths: a job in Trump’s Washington, or positioning himself for a Republican Party after Trump.
Both require the president’s favor — and perhaps some bridge-mending with his remaining foes in Trump’s inner circle. DeSantis has responded to that reality with the same hard-changing, maximalist governing style that fueled his first rise to political stardom.
His latest win for Trump — a new congressional map that could net the GOP four more House seats this fall — potentially rescued the Republican Party’s flailing mid-decade redistricting gambit. And it has earned praise from corners of the president’s orbit that once mobilized against him when he challenged Trump in the 2024 Republican primary.
Mike Davis, a longtime Trump legal adviser who regularly mocked DeSantis’ presidential campaign, wrote on X shortly after Florida lawmakers approved the new district boundaries: “Once again, America’s best governor delivers. And fast.”
“Finishing strong is going to be important for his legacy and he knows that’s what will impact his future and how people view him more than anything else,” said Nick Iarossi, a lobbyist who has raised money for both Trump and DeSantis and has clients in Washington, DC, and Tallahassee.
DeSantis’ office did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment. White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump “appreciates the work Governor DeSantis is doing in the great state of Florida and the ongoing partnership they maintain to help advance the President’s America First agenda.”
A 2028 run ‘if there’s a lane’
It’s not a secret that DeSantis continues to harbor presidential ambitions. “We’ll see,” he teased when recently asked by Fox host Sean Hannity if he would run again. He is already testing a pitch to future primary voters that leans heavily on his track record of conservative wins.
“I think we’ll be able to say, ‘You know what, we had eight years, and show me someone that’s been more consequential,’” he said in a recent interview with television host Graham Bensinger.
It’s a message that echoes the one he delivered across the country leading up to the 2024 GOP primary — and one he maintains would’ve been successful were it not for Trump. He asserted to Hannity that 90% of Iowa caucusgoers would’ve backed him if Trump hadn’t sought another term. (DeSantis instead came in second in the Iowa GOP caucuses with 21% of the vote, narrowly ahead of Nikki Haley. He ended his campaign shortly after and endorsed Trump.)
“I’d have people in these early states tell me, ‘You know, you’re going to be a great president. I think you’re going to be better than (Ronald) Reagan, but I’m for Trump this time. But I’ll vote for you next time,’” he told Bensinger.
Critics of DeSantis’ 2024 campaign — including from within his own operation — believed his problems went beyond just the presence of Trump, contending that he made strategic missteps and failed to energize GOP voters. A pair of veteran Republican operatives dubbed it “the worst Republican presidential campaign ever.”
Those close to DeSantis acknowledge the uphill climb for him to reemerge as a leading figure in 2028. His political operation is virtually non-existent, and there’s little expectation even among DeSantis stalwarts that his 2024 donors would risk alienating Vice President JD Vance, most-likely to run as Trump’s heir, or Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a rising contender who also hails from the Sunshine State.
Against that backdrop, the governor’s strategy for now is to become an asset to Trump — and an ally once more. They have golfed twice in recent months. Trump told DeSantis last year at a joint appearance: “You’ll always be my friend.”
DeSantis has also shown more willingness than Trump to appease some of the MAGA base’s priorities. He’s gone beyond Trump’s efforts to curb legal immigration and moved to limit H-1B visa holders from state university jobs. He has also distinguished himself from Vance by emerging as a leading critic of the tech industry, pushing for state limits on artificial intelligence against Trump’s wishes.
A person close to DeSantis said while Vance and Rubio may have the upper hand for now, the governor’s ability to maintain a personal relationship with Trump while distancing himself on some issues could prove useful if Republicans grow wary of the current administration. It also remains unclear if or when Trump will formally throw his weight behind a successor, leaving DeSantis with room to operate.
“He’s watching,” the person said. “And he won’t hesitate to run if there’s lane.”
Cabinet hopes
In the short term, though, DeSantis may need a job. As vacancies have opened atop justice, homeland security and labor departments, DeSantis’ name has regularly surfaced as a possible replacement, and he is open to serving in the Trump administration. Multiple people told CNN that Trump is aware DeSantis’ preference would be to lead the Pentagon, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s job appears safe for now.
“I’m a service-oriented person,” he told Bensinger, adding he would “never rule anything out.”
Asked Friday by CNN if he was considering his former GOP rival for a Cabinet position, the president said, “Well, I like him a lot. Nobody’s asked me that question, but I like him a lot.”
However, DeSantis’ icy relationship with Trump’s inner circle, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, remains a hurdle to any appointment. Wiles and Blair once worked for DeSantis before an acrimonious falling out that became a subplot of the bruising 2024 GOP primary.
Given that history, his reputation in the West Wing is still so poor that Vance once overheard a conversation about the governor between Trump aides and remarked, “Wow, you guys really hate Ron DeSantis,” a person who witnessed the exchange said.
The person added that while DeSantis’ name may get floated by supporters of both the governor and Trump, it hasn’t come from inside the White House.
“He’s not regarded as a team player,” the person added.
Notably, DeSantis is not scheduled to appear at Trump’s event on Friday in Central Florida, though he was invited, according to a person with knowledge of the schedule. DeSantis’ office didn’t say why he turned them down.
“There’s been no dethawing between DeSantis and Trump’s inner circle,” a longtime Trump fundraiser told CNN. “I don’t know what the world looks like for him after this.”
This article has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.
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