Blaise Ingoglia was elected the new chairman of the RPOF on Saturday and the story is not that Rick Scotts choice of Leslie Dougher was turned out but that Republicans selected the right man to lead the GOP in the most important battleground state in the 2016 presidential election.
To be sure, Scott and Melissa Sellers doubled down on Dougher and lost. Scott and Sellers werent particularly subtle about their support of Dougher, leading a lot of RPOF activists to push back with Ingoglia. Neither the Jeb Bush nor Marco Rubio camp liked the idea of Sellers, with her ties to Bobby Jindal, and Scott, with his ties to Rick Perry, pulling the strings of the RPOF through Dougher in 2016.
But Ingoglia also has the right political focus to help Republicans against Hillary Clinton come 2016. After starting a successful real estate career, Ingoglia became politically active, serving as the vice chairman of the RPOF -- but he also remained a favorite of conservatives. Running his popular Government Gone Wild online videos about the need to cut government spending, Ingoglia won the support of the tea party and became a popular speaker for conservative groups throughout Florida.
As his online videos showed, Ingoglia understands the power of social media in politics. Its an area where Democrats have excelled, especially in presidential elections. Barack Obamas social media efforts far outpaced John McCains in 2008 and Mitt Romneys in 2012.
There are signs that Republicans are starting to catch up with the Democrats when it comes to social media in Florida. Last year, Republican David Jolly put together a strong social media effort in a special election against Alex Sink, helping him win a Tampa Bay congressional seat while turning the Democrat from a gubernatorial contender to a political has-been. Ingoglia will only improve those efforts.
While he might be a favorite of the tea party movement, Ingoglia is not an unknown quantity to the GOP leadership. Even before he challenged Dougher, Ingoglia was the vice chairman of the RPOF. He also won an open Florida House seat back in 2014. In his various political activities, Ingoglia has shown a knack for scoring points with conservative arguments and he will be a favorite of various GOP groups.
Even after his win over Dougher, Ingoglia should be well-positioned to unite the GOP in swing-state Florida. With his social media experience, he should amp up the RPOFs efforts as communications and organization evolve with changing technology. His win on Saturday bodes well for the GOP in 2016.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis piece exclusively for Sunshine State News.
