Florida Gov. DeSantis not in a hurry to pick Marco Rubios Senate replacement amid Lara Trump push
Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis is reportedly slow-walking the process to name a successor to Sen.
Marco Rubio — as allies of Donald Trump clamor for him to pick the president-elect’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump to replace the secretary of state designee.DeSantis, the 46-year-old former and possibly future Republican rising star, challenged Trump, 78, for this year’s Republican presidential nomination before losing in a landslide and ultimately supporting Trump’s comeback bid.“The governor will be conducting a thorough vetting process and interview process in December that will involve several candidates,” a DeSantis aide told NBC News.“He’s not in a hurry to make an important decision.”Rubio, 53, is likely to remain a senator through at least part of January.
His nomination is one of the least controversial among his current upper-chamber colleagues, and he’s on track to be confirmed easily.DeSantis said last week that he’s looking for someone who would “be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and [who] has a proven record of results.”Lara Trump, 42, is a forceful advocate of her father-in-law’s populist agenda and would guarantee him an ardent ally in the Senate, where many Republican members continue to flex their independence from Trump, including by expressing unease about his demand for recess appointments to his Cabinet, which barring legal gymnastics would require them to consent to go into recess.Republicans will hold a 53-47 seat advantage in the Senate and a handful of members have balked at Trump’s slate of Cabinet nominees and three returning GOP members even voted to convict him in his 2021 impeachment trial.Lara Trump is married to Trump’s middle son Eric and has been co-chair of the Republican National Committee since March.She previously was floated as a possible Senate candidate ...