On Monday, Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of the president-elect, announced that she was stepping down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee — a move sure to stoke speculation about the possibility of her being appointed to the Senate from Florida.
And Trump did nothing to quiet that speculation in an interview she gave to the Associated Press.
“It is something I would seriously consider,” she said of the Senate seat. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”
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A few notes here:
Lara Trump could have easily stayed on as co-chair of the RNC if she didn’t have other, um, plans. In fact, her fellow co-chair, Michael Whatley, is staying in the job.
Lara Trump didn’t have to give an interview to the AP announcing her decision to leave the RNC. She could have just left! But she wanted to be asked about the Senate race. And she was!
Does all of this mean she will get what she wants? Hard to say. There are a lot of moving pieces.
The seat isn’t even vacant yet as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio hasn’t been confirmed as the next Secretary of State.
But, assuming he is, the job of filling his seat through the 2026 election will fall to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
As you may remember, DeSantis and Trump don’t exactly have a warm relationship following the 2024 primary campaign.
Except that Trump has reached out to DeSantis about stepping in as his Defense Secretary nominee if Pete Hegseth is forced out. And DeSantis would very much like that job.
So, does dangling SecDef in front of Ron make him more likely to do Trump a solid by putting his daughter-in-law in the Senate? Honestly, it might!
DeSantis has said he will make a decision on the appointment by early January. At which point we will know if a) Hegseth survives and b) Trump turns to DeSantis if Hegseth doesn’t.
Intrigue!
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