Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) threw cold water on the idea that he could appoint himself to fill Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) seat, which he is vacating to become President-elect Trump’s secretary of state.
“Absolutely not,” DeSantis told reporters on Friday when asked about the scenario.
“It’s funny, you know, these people write these things,” the governor said. “And anytime they’re talking about anything I’m doing, they’re just making it up, right?”
“I mean, they’ll talk to someone because [they’ll] say, ‘Oh, someone familiar with the governor’s thinking.’ Understand, that means they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. That means somebody is saying, ‘Well, I know how the Governor thinks. He’s probably saying this.’ So they try to do grist for the mill,” he said.
DeSantis has the power to replace Rubio, assuming the senator is confirmed to the country’s top diplomatic post, as is widely expected. On Tuesday, the governor said he has not decided who that might be.
“I think we’ve got a number of great candidates, but I want to make sure that we know what we’re going to get,” DeSantis said.
A number of names have been floated to fill the seat, including state Attorney General Ashley Moody, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, and DeSantis’s chief of staff, James Uthmeier.
The president-elect’s daughter Lara Trump had expressed interest in the role, but took her name out of consideration last month.
Whoever replaces Rubio will serve out the remainder of the senator’s team until 2026, when an election for the seat is held.
