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Joe Gruters

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Joe Gruters
Chair of the Florida Republican Party
In office
January 12, 2019 – February 12, 2023
Preceded byBlaise Ingoglia
Succeeded byChristian Ziegler
Member of the Florida Senate
from the 22nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 6, 2018
Preceded byGreg Steube
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 73rd district
In office
November 8, 2016 – November 6, 2018
Preceded byGreg Steube
Succeeded byTommy Gregory
Personal details
Born (1977-07-06) July 6, 1977 (age 47)
Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseSydney Gruters
EducationFlorida State University (BS)
University of South Florida (MBA)

Joe Gruters (born June 7, 1977) was the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party from 2018 to 2022, and is a member of the Florida Senate representing the 22nd District, which consists of Sarasota County and part of Charlotte County. He was previously a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Earlier in his career, Gruters worked on the campaign of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan as campaign manager and was vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota.

Political career

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Campaign activities and rise to influence

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Gruters lost his first two elections and worked behind the scenes on several more losing campaigns.[1] He joined Vern Buchanan’s original successful 2006 campaign for Congress.[2] Gruters subsequently was chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota for ten years, longer than any of his predecessors.[3]

Gruters gained political influence as an early supporter of Rick Scott during his successful 2010 campaign for governor of Florida. Gruters' support earned him a high-profile appointment to the Florida State University Board of Trustees. He became vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida in 2015, and had strong political backers when he ran for the Florida House of Representatives' seat in 2016.[2]

Trump supporter and Republican Party of Florida chairman

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Gruters is one of Donald Trump's closest political allies in Florida.[4] An early Trump supporter, Gruters was Florida co-chairman of Trump's 2016 campaign.[5] Gruters forged a relationship with Donald Trump in 2012 after Republican leaders snubbed the New York celebrity at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Trump accepted an invitation from Gruters to invite him to speak in Sarasota the night before the convention.[6]

Gruters was elected to a two-year term as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida on January 11, 2019 at the party's annual meeting in Orlando, winning a two-year term. He defeated Bob Starr of Charlotte County and succeeded state Representative Blaise Ingoglia. Gruters passed out red "Keep Florida Great" hats ahead of the vote and declared that his "singular focus over the next two years" was winning reelection for Trump. Gruters's easy election coincides with more internal unity among the Florida Republican Party, which had been divided after a Jim Greer scandal and had suffered internal fractures during the Governor Rick Scott's terms, when Scott withdrew financial and organization support for the party after Ingoglia had defeated Scott's preferred candidate.[4] President Trump appointed Gruters to the Amtrak board of directors, subject to confirmation by the United States Senate.[7] The confirmation was neither confirmed nor rejected and sent back to the President.[8]

Gruters unanimously won a second two-year term as RPOF Chairman in 2021.[9]

In 2023, Trump appointed Gruters to manage the funds in his legal defense fund, Patriot Legal Defense Fund, that allows donors to remain anonymous to both the public and the IRS under Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.[10][11]

Florida Republican voter registration surge

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During Gruters' four-year chairmanship of the Republican Party of Florida, he made voter registration a priority. With funding help from Governor Ron DeSantis,[12] the number of registered Republican voters surged in Florida during his tenure.[13] When Gruters took over the RPOF in 2019, Democrats held a 225,000 voter registration advantage, according to the Florida Division of Elections.[14]

But the gradual narrowing of the gap between Democrats and Republicans in Florida began to speed up and in two years, Florida Republicans had overtaken Democrats in voter registration.[14] Florida voter registration numbers are now at about 5.15 million registered Republicans compared to 4.47 million Democrats — translating into a GOP lead of more than 680,000 registered voters over Democrats.[13] Data further shows that the emphasis on Republican voter registration is resulting in a registration advantage that is growing by roughly 30,000 voters every month.[15]

This voter registration advantage and associated get-out-the-vote campaign resulted in record wins for Florida Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, including DeSantis at the top of the ticket winning 62 of Florida's 67 counties (which included the normally Democratic Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.)[16] The election also saw Republicans winning a supermajority in both the Florida House and Senate.[17]

Florida Legislature

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In 2016, Gruters won election to the Florida House of Representatives from the 73rd District, which includes Eastern Manatee County and Northeastern Sarasota County, from 2016. In 2018, he won election to the Florida Senate representing the 23rd District, consisting of Sarasota County and part of Charlotte County. Gruters was endorsed in 2018 by the Florida Chamber of Commerce.[18] In 2022 he won re-election to the Florida Senate.[19]

Gruters introduced three environmental bills in December 2018, ahead of the legislative session to address red tide and other issues: one bill would restore septic inspection regulations that had been lifted during the Great Recession and another would fine polluters for sewage spills.[20][21]

In the wake of a fatal shooting at a California synagogue in 2019, the Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill by Gruters to combat anti-Semitism, including by requiring schools to deal with anti-Semitic behavior the same way they do racial discrimination.[22]

Gruters was a driving force behind Florida's 2019 law (S.B. 198) that forces local and state law enforcement to honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers and prohibits local government from implementing "sanctuary" policies (which no Florida government had adopted). The controversial bill passed the Florida Senate 22-18,[23][24] and was signed into law by Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.[24]

Gruters sponsored Senate Bill 796, requiring electric utilities to adopt long-term plans for burying electric lines as a protective measure against hurricanes; the Senate voted 39-1 in favor of the bill.[25]

Gruters filed a bill to ban abortions 20 weeks after fertilization.[26]

Gruters sponsored Senate Bill 230, a piece of legislation that would reinstate Florida's controversial quest to identify purported noncitizen voters. The legislation would require the supervisor of elections in each Florida county to enter into a local agreement with court officials to obtain a list of jurors who have self-identified as non-citizens. That list would then be compared to the registered voter rolls and the non-citizen names would be purged.[27] Prior efforts to purge the voters in Florida have been botched, with lists of purported "noncitizens" containing some U.S. citizens. The president of the League of Women Voters of Florida called Gruters' piece of legislation "most likely a politically motivated proposal."[27]

Gruters is also proposing legislation that would ban smoking at public beaches statewide. Violators would be fined up to $25 or given up to 10 hours of public service.[28]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Gruters pushed for legislation in the Florida legislature that would restrict voting rights in the state. In 2021, Gruters called for cancelling all existing mail-in ballot requests, saying they would be "devastating" for Republicans up for re-election in 2022.[29]

Personal life

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Gruters is a Certified Public Accountant.[30]

Gruters lives in Sarasota County, is married to Sydney Gruters and they have three children.[31]

References

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  1. ^ Anderson, Zac. "Joe Gruters elected Florida GOP chair". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  2. ^ a b Zac Anderson (December 26, 2015). "Gruters hitches his wagon to Trump". Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
  3. ^ Anderson, Zac. "Joe Gruters stepping down as Sarasota GOP chair after 10 years". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  4. ^ a b David Smiley. "One of Trump's closest allies in Florida takes control of the state Republican party". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  5. ^ "Donald Trump's Florida Man".
  6. ^ "Trump's man in Florida a believer from start of long-shot bid". Tampa Bay Times. 2016-11-02. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  7. ^ Schorsch, Peter (2018-02-02). "Donald Trump names Joe Gruters to Amtrak board". Florida Politics. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  8. ^ "Agenda Item: PN63 Joseph Ryan Gruters - Amtrak Board of Directors". 2020-01-03.
  9. ^ Ogles, Jacob (2021-01-16). "Joe Gruters re-elected Chairman of Florida GOP". Florida Politics. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  10. ^ Christensen, Dan, Trump’s legal defense fund should prove lucrative for ex-Republican Party of Florida chairman Gruters, Florida Bulldog, August 1, 2023
  11. ^ Sollenberger, Roger, Trump’s Dark Money Machine Just Got Darker, The Daily Beast, February 11, 2023
  12. ^ Dixon, Matt. "DeSantis pours $2M into Florida GOP's voter registration effort". POLITICO. Retrieved 2023-02-24.[permanent dead link‍]
  13. ^ a b "Voter Registration - By Party Affiliation - Division of Elections - Florida Department of State". dos.myflorida.com. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  14. ^ a b "Voter Registration - By Party Affiliation - Division of Elections - Florida Department of State". dos.fl.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  15. ^ Schorsch, Peter (2023-02-24). "Sunburn — The morning read of what's hot in Florida politics — 2.24.23". Florida Politics. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  16. ^ "Florida Governor Election Results". The New York Times. 2022-11-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  17. ^ "Red wave sweeps in supermajorities in Florida Legislature". Miami Herald.
  18. ^ "Florida Chamber is Proud to Endorse Joe Gruters – Florida Chamber of Commerce". www.flchamber.com. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  19. ^ Szymanowska, Gabriela. "State Senator Joe Gruters beats challenger Michael Johnson in race for Senate District 22". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  20. ^ Ogles, Jacob (29 December 2018). "Joe Gruters files water quality bills ahead of session". Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  21. ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sewage spills would lead to big fines under Sarasota lawmaker's bill". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  22. ^ "Two days after deadly synagogue shooting, Florida Senate passes anti-Semitism bill". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  23. ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sanctuary city bill clears big threshold with Florida Senate approval". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  24. ^ a b Elizabeth Koh, Gov. DeSantis signs 'sanctuary cities' ban into law. There aren't any in Florida., Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau (June 14, 2019).
  25. ^ Powers, Scott (2 May 2019). "Push for underground power lines passes". Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  26. ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sarasota state Sen. Joe Gruters files 20-week abortion ban". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  27. ^ a b Anderson, Zac. "Bill would revive Florida's controversial efforts to identify noncitizen voters". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  28. ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sen. Joe Gruters files bill to ban smoking on Florida beaches". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  29. ^ Fineout, Gary (20 September 2021). "'Devastating': Florida Republicans worried about 2022 as they crafted election law". Politico PRO. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  30. ^ admin. "Joe Gruters - Robinson, Gruters & Roberts Certified Public Accountants". Robinson, Gruters & Roberts CPAs. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  31. ^ "Joe Gruters announces bid for state senate | Sarasota". Your Observer. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
Florida House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 73rd district
2016–2018 		Succeeded by
Florida Senate
Preceded by Member of the Florida Senate
from the 23rd district
2018–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Chair of the Florida Republican Party
2019–2023 		Succeeded by
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