Christian Ziegler will lead the Republican Party of Florida into the 2024 elections. The Sarasota County State Committeeman won election to the post Saturday at an annual meeting held in Orlando.
He faced Leon County GOP Chair Evan Power. But he won in a vote of 126-100.
The new GOP State Chair succeeds Joe Gruters, who had led the party since 2019. Gruters, a Sarasota Republican, remains a member of the Florida Senate.
Among other things, the victory for Ziegler means Sarasota County will have produced two consecutive party leaders. Gruters and Ziegler were close allies throughout his reign as State Chair, and well before.
After forgoing another term as chairman of the state party of the Sarasota County Republican Executive Committee, this marks the first time Gruters has not had a formal leadership role in party politics for over a decade. There’s already speculation he could run for Chief Financial Officer or for Congress.
Both Ziegler and Power had effectively been campaigning for the job for years and had run in 2018 before Gov. Ron DeSantis blessed Gruters’ entry into the race.
Ziegler most recently served as Republican Party of Florida Vice Chair. Power has served as the Chair of Chairs.
Leading into the vote, Ziegler had announced support from a number of members of Florida’s congressional delegation. He also has touted support from public figures like online commenter Rogan O’Handley, better known as DC Draino.
Power has stressed on-the-ground successes even in tough parts of the state to win like the Tallahassee area. Despite Leon County’s blue tilt, the local GOP enjoyed successes including Corey Simon’s win for a state Senate seat not held by Republicans since reconstruction. Simon endorsed Power, as did GOP U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, who defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson in the only congressional race pitting two incumbents against one another.
Ziegler recently wrapped a single term as Sarasota County Commissioner and did not seek re-election to that post. Wife Bridget Ziegler chairs the Sarasota County School Board.
Ziegler also works in digital marketing, with his firm Microtargeted Media providing services for campaigns across the country.
He was elected to a two-year term.
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