With 2016 around the corner, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) will be hosting the Sunshine Summit in Orlando from Nov. 12-Nov. 14 and the stakes will be high. The presidential hopefuls will take most of the spotlight but there’s another important race already taking shape as Rubio has said he will not run for a second Senate term. Florida Republicans Ron DeSantis, David Jolly, Carlos Lopez-Cantera and Todd Wilcox are already off and running and they will be at the Sunshine Summit trying to win support for their Senate bids.
This is the last in a series as Sunshine State News looked at the presidential hopefuls who will be on stage at the Sunshine Summit and what is at stake as they take their messages to Republicans across Florida.
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At the Sunshine Summit, Donald Trump will be the last speaker on the stage on Friday afternoon but he will be at center stage for much of the event.
Trump’s rocketed to the top of the polls as conservatives cheer his criticism of politics (and politicians) as usual, tough talk on immigration and blunt persona. Plenty of pundits on both the left and right have expected Trump to fade but he’s shown far more staying power than they expected. They made the mistake of underestimating Trump who is far more comfortable on the public stage than they realized. Not relying on a script, Trump is easily one of better speakers in the field who can keep a crowd engaged, entertained and easily amused for more than an hour. Trump can also be funny, something that’s often overlooked by his critics.
More than any of the other candidates, Trump has shown no hesitation in going on the attack. He’s thrown jabs at the top candidates but he’s also fired shots at some of the dark horses like Rand Paul and even George Pataki. But Trump’s focus in recent days has been on some of the top tier candidates like Dr. Ben Carson and Marco Rubio. Expect more of that from Trump this week both at Tuesday night’s debate and at the Sunshine Summit.
While he’s done well in generating crowds and winning over conservatives, Trump is starting to make strides with the GOP leadership. Florida is a good example of this. Even with Rubio and Jeb Bush in the race, Trump is starting to build up an organization in the Sunshine State and he has lured over some top notch operatives to lead his efforts here. Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Sarasota County GOP and the vice chairman of the RPOF, is one of Trump’s co-chairs in Florida. So is Susie Wiles who was Rick Scott’s campaign manager in 2010.
Party regulars are distrustful of Trump, fearing he won’t be competitive against Hillary Clinton, bringing down too many other Republicans with him. These are the Republicans Trump needs to rope in at the Sunshine Summit. Even if they will never support him in the primary over other candidates, Trump needs to deflect some of their hostility if he wants to defeat Clinton.
Of course Trump also needs to remind conservatives backing Carson and other candidates why he has done well so far. If Carson is falling apart--and Trump has said he thinks the recent reports about Carson making misleading comments about his past has doomed his campaign--Trump can score points by going after Clinton and rallying conservatives behind his call to “make America great again.”
Even if he continues to go on the attack against other Republican hopefuls Trump will have the opportunity to continue to build his Florida organization at the Sunshine Summit. Trump will have the ability to show Florida Republicans he has what it takes to beat Clinton and show he can sit in the Oval Office.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
