TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State Sen. Joe Gruters, who already has President Donald Trump’s endorsement, is on a glide path to become the next chair of the Republican National Committee.
Michael Whatley, the current RNC chair, is stepping down to run for the North Carolina U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. The deadline for those seeking to succeed Whatley came and went on Tuesday and Gruters will run for the job unopposed. The formal vote will occur on Aug. 22 at the RNC summer meeting in Atlanta.
Gruters, a Sarasota Republican who is currently the RNC treasurer, has been a long-time ally of Trump and is friends with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who was honored this past weekend by the Republican Party of Florida at its big annual dinner and fundraiser in Orlando.
Gruters had been on a 2026 collision course with Blaise Ingoglia, a staunch supporter of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Gruters was planning to run for chief financial officer, a statewide elected position even though Ingoglia was recently appointed to the job by DeSantis. The job had come open after Jimmy Patronis resigned to run for the congressional seat that had be held by former Rep. Matt Gaetz. Patronis won that seat in a special election earlier this year.
Ingoglia was sworn into his new job last month and just days after two top Trump advisers announced they were going to help Gruters campaign against him. Then just days later Whatley said he was going to run for Senate. Trump endorsed Whatley and simultaneously backed Gruters to take over as RNC chair.
“Fortunately, I have somebody who will do a wonderful job as the Chairman of the RNC,” he wrote in a social media post. “His name is, Joe Gruters, and he will have my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Last Friday Trump repeated his support of Gruters in another social media post where he called him a “MAGA warrior, who has been with us from the very beginning.” Trump said that Gruters had “helped us deliver massive and historic Victories across the state.”
“As RNC Treasurer, Joe has been a Fierce Advocate for our Movement, and fought tirelessly to ensure a highly functioning, fiscally responsible, and financially successful RNC,” Trump wrote. “He will be a wonderful Chairman!”
Gruters, 48, is an accountant and former chair of the Republican Party of Florida who has spent nine years in the Florida Legislature, including the past seven in the state Senate. He has had notable clashes with DeSantis and backed Trump over DeSantis when the governor mounted his unsuccessful run for president during the 2024 election cycle.
DeSantis just last month castigated Gruters and contended he was out of step with conservatives, noting his support of an immigration bill that DeSantis vetoed as well as his support for a constitutional amendment that would have legalized recreational marijuana in the state. (Trump backed that amendment as well.)
“Joe Gruters has taken major positions that are totally contrary from what our voter base wants to do,” DeSantis said during his press conference where he announced he was appointing Ingoglia. “So if George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?’ My response would be ‘no.’ I can’t do that without betraying the voters that elected me to lead this state in a conservative direction.”
Gruters was already term-limited in the state Senate and state Rep. James Buchanan, the son of Rep. Vern Buchanan. is already running for Gruters’ seat. It is not clear if Gruters intends to resign his state Senate seat early after he is formally chosen as RNC chair. A spokesperson for Gruters said Tuesday there would be no decision on that until after the RNC election.
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