Battle for Florida CFO heats up after GOP legislator backed by Scott jumps in

TALLAHASSEE, Fla — A Republican legislator is challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handpicked candidate for Florida's chief financial officer, creating the likelihood of a bitterly contested GOP primary next year.

State Rep. Kevin Steele, a Dade City legislator and the former chief executive of a software company, is filing his campaign paperwork Tuesday. He will be challenging Blaise Ingoglia, who was appointed to the job in July and has spent his first few months railing against local government spending levels.

“Florida families deserve a CFO who will run our state like a winning business — smart, tough, and with zero tolerance for waste and corruption,” Steele said in a statement in which he also pledged to pursue an “America First” mindset. “I’ve spent my career building companies from the ground up, fixing broken systems and getting results.”

The announcement by Steele is sure to foster speculation that he might win the backing of President Donald Trump, setting up a potential proxy battle between the president and DeSantis.

Steele is entering the race with the backing of Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the former two-term Republican governor. Scott, who has his own icy relationship with DeSantis and Ingoglia, praised Steele for being a business owner who’s created jobs and made organizations more efficient.

“Kevin Steele is a proven leader and a true conservative who knows how to get results,” Scott said in a statement. "I'm proud to support Kevin because he'll bring that same fiscal responsibility, accountability and focus on results to the CFO's office."

Back in 2015, Ingoglia, a homebuilder, defeated Scott’s choice for Republican Party of Florida chair. While Ingoglia remained neutral in the 2016 Florida presidential primary, he was accused of being biased toward then-Sen. Marco Rubio by some of those associated with Trump’s campaign.

The chief financial officer is one of three officials who run statewide and sits on the Florida Cabinet. DeSantis appointed Ingoglia to the post after Jimmy Patronis resigned from the position to run for Congress. The chief financial officer plays a key role in helping oversee the regulation of property insurance while also serving as the state's fire marshal and treasurer.

Ingoglia is considered a staunch ally of DeSantis who routinely shepherded the governor’s priorities through the Florida Legislature. But he has not been endorsed by Trump, unlike fellow Cabinet members James Uthmeier and Wilton Simpson. Trump initially endorsed Joe Gruters for the job, but Gruters was selected to become chair of the Republican National Committee with the president’s backing.

Trump has endorsed Republican candidates for every other statewide office on the 2026 ballot including governor and U.S. Senate.

The winner of the GOP primary will likely have a decided advantage in the November general election. There is currently no Democrat in the race.

Steele jumps into the race as the sponsor of some likely attention-grabbing legislation for the 2026 session. He is sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would eliminate all property taxes — except those collected for schools — on the primary homes of Florida residents.

Steele has also filed a bill that would require all public universities and college campuses to name a road after Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist killed in Utah earlier this year. The legislation would allow state funding to be withheld if schools did not go along with the name changes.

Steele was first elected to the Florida House in 2022. Ingoglia had been in the Florida Legislature since 2014. Ingoglia, who has his own reputation for being a hard-charging partisan, has roughly $4.7 million available in his campaign account and in two political committees he controls. Steele, who has reported his net worth at more than $150 million, has a substantially smaller amount available. But he set up his political committees only in September.