The Florida-fication of Washington: McGuireWoods Consulting Strategically Positioned for Trump’s Second Term

McGuireWoods Consulting’s teams in Washington, D.C, and Florida, are uniquely positioned to assist businesses pursuing opportunities come January when president-elect Donald Trump takes office. Florida delivered its 30 electoral votes to Donald J. Trump by almost 1.5 million votes, the biggest margin of victory in state history. Trump’s re-election as 47^th president of the United States is poised to bring dramatic change to Washington, and he will be assisted by numerous key political appointments from the State of Florida. With Republicans having gained control of the Senate and the House (with races left to call), the incoming Trump administration is operating at an extremely fast pace, naming appointments to key positions, staking out policy positions and transitioning with key staffing hires. Trump’s relationship to Florida – and the politics in this state – run deep and wide. The president-elect is a long-time resident of Florida and is running much of the transition operations out of Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, has a storied political history in Florida campaigns; she has successfully run three statewide campaigns for U.S. Senator Rick Scott, a gubernatorial race for Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s two Florida presidential campaigns, and the 2024 national presidential campaign.

In addition, her deputy director of policy, James Blair, has cut his teeth in Florida politics over the last 15 years, running numerous successful legislative races, and working as a deputy chief of staff for DeSantis. Both Wiles and Blair are going to be key personnel with huge influence in the new Trump administration in Washington.

The appointment of Florida Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state adds foreign policy expertise and the passion of a son of Cuban immigrants to the Cabinet, and we can expect additional Department of State appointments to come from Florida. As a former Florida House Speaker, Rubio has long political ties to the Sunshine State. Congressman Michael Waltz, who replaced DeSantis in his congressional district, was entrusted by the president-elect to be the new national security advisor. And just yesterday, two-time Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was nominated to be attorney general of the United States. These appointments will round out a significant sphere of Florida influence that puts the State of Florida squarely in the center of power in Washington, D.C., during the administration. McGuireWoods Consulting stands ready to collaborate with businesses of all sizes on how best to navigate the new political landscape taking shape on Capitol Hill.