After their national norms, Florida Republicans were more confident than before that their former president, Donald Trump, would win the presidency again, but they were unsure regarding what would happen to the state’s two additional favorite sons.

As Republicans concluded their week in Milwaukee, the political landscape for the 2 different most famous political figures in the state, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Governor Ron DeSantis, was less clear than it had been when they arrived.

Wherever Republicans welcomed Trump’s choice of U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio for vice president, particularly Republicans in Florida. However, it was significantly more difficult for DeSantis and Rubio to make their political decisions. Each has had Trump block their own presidential aspirations in the past, and the Vance decision may do it too.

The Vance selection did not change Florida’s forecast for 2024, for example. Despite the protests of the Democrats, there was no proof that Trump was going to have any trouble receiving Florida’s 30 electoral votes before the convention, and there was also no sign that anything might change after the conference.

It is widely anticipated that DeSantis will seek the Republican presidential nomination once more in 2028. DeSantis gained access to the governor’s office in 2018 thanks to Trump’s support. He then failed to challenge him for the candidacy in 2024.

Vance might be a strong contender for the presidential nomination, particularly if Republicans saw him as Trump’s successor and leader of the MAGA movement. This is especially true if he is the current vice president.

According to Florida Atlantic University political scientist Kevin Wagner, “The fact that everyone may assert with assurance is that would Trump gain in November, it would place Senator Vance in an excellent spot to secure the presidency in 2028.”

Political sources and analysts disagree on whether DeSantis’s hopes of winning are lost or if the Vance choice just makes his 2028 plan more difficult.

Mac Stipanovich, a longtime high-ranking Florida Republican consultant who quit the Republican Party and has since become an opponent of both DeSantis and Trump, stated, “I believe Vance was especially disastrous for DeSantis’ goals.”

Vance, according to Stipanovich, is “the better DeSantis.” DeSantis is rather proud of his upbringing in the middle class.