Evan Power, the Chair of the Republican Party of Florida, announced his intentions last month regarding an endorsement vote for "presumptive nominee" Donald Trump.
On Saturday, it was made official, with a Republican Party meeting sealing the deal and removing what little drama there might be ahead of the March Primary.
The vote was confirmed by Rep. Dean Black of Jacksonville, who made the motion to end a "pointless primary" and certify the intentions of a state party once torn by the contest between the former President and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended his campaign last month.
"The results of Iowa and New Hampshire make it clear that President Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party," Power said in January as he called the meeting. He added then that it was "time for Republicans to come together and put 100% of our focus on defeating Joe Biden and his failed administration in November."
"This primary is over and the Florida GOP is united behind President Trump! Floridians can't afford four more years of crooked Joe Biden's doddering weakness and ineptitude. We must stop America's decline. We need a strong President again who has always put America First. That man is President Donald J. Trump," Black said at the same time.
Even before DeSantis exited the race, Trump was around 60% in polls of Florida Republicans, so it's clear the official party is following the will of the voters expected to show up in March for Florida's winner-take-all contest.
Florida is actually not the first state whose GOP endorsed Trump preemptively. Ohio made the same move back in December.
The endorsement comes as DeSantis continues to suggest that Trump may have problems winning the General Election even after he pushed the Governor out of the race.
"Ultimately, it's not just the person with our jersey's in or not in," DeSantis said in January. "It's like, are you going to deliver and actually fix all these problems that are there because we've talked about these problems for a long time."
"I think the time for talk is over," DeSantis said. "People have been talking for a long time. And the question is, are we going to actually be able to turn the ship around? And that's going to require strong leadership, it's going to require a plan to get this done."
DeSantis alluded to previously expressed doubts about the former President's coattails also, saying the GOP needed to win "a lot of elections all across the country for House and Senate that we've not really shown as Republica
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