What to know about Jimmy Patronis, the Trump-endorsed candidate running to replace Gaetz
“RUN, JIMMY, RUN!”
Those were the recent words of encouragement from President-elect Donald Trump to Jimmy Patronis, who on Monday resigned his post as Florida’s chief financial officer to run to replace former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Patronis, 52, is a former Panama City restaurateur who has been a familiar face to Floridians for decades.
He was a state legislator, an appointee to several state commissions, and he has served as the state’s chief financial officer — a statewide elected post — since he was appointed in 2017 by then-Gov. Rick Scott.
Here’s what else to know about him:
He was a restaurateur before becoming a statewide officer
Patronis earned his associate’s degree in restaurant management from Gulf Coast Community College and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida State University.
His first brush with politics was as an intern for former Broward County state Sen. Ken Jenne. After the internship ended, he worked in a management position at his family’s seafood restaurant, Captain Anderson’s in Panama City Beach, then at the Panama City Chamber of Commerce and eventually at the Bay County airport authority.
In 2007, Patronis’ first legislative session as a state representative, he became interested in healthcare and expanding benefits for members of the hospitality industry. Rick Scott was interested in his ideas, and the two became friends.
He’s been a close ally to Rick Scott
When he was a state legislator, Patronis was one of the state’s only elected Republicans to support Scott’s run for governor in 2010.
The loyalty paid off.
In 2014, Scott appointed Patronis to the Public Service Commission, which regulates utility services, such as water, energy and telecommunications, and later to a post on the Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to suggest changes to the state’s Constitution. And in 2017, as CFO, Patronis joined former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam on the Florida Cabinet, which is chaired by the governor.
Patronis — who became the state’s first chief financial officer without a background in banking — has said he considers Scott a “mentor and friend.”
He’s been accused of ‘pay to play’ and corrupt tactics
Patronis was accused of engaging in inappropriate and illegal behavior by Florida’s former banking regulator, Ronald Rubin.
At the time, Rubin had been suspended over allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women. Rubin filed a lawsuit alleging the claims against him were ginned up by Patronis because Rubin did not hire a lobbyist’s friend. The lobbyist represented financial companies that work with Patronis’ office.
The lawsuit accused Patronis of running a criminal enterprise. “The enterprise applies a ‘Pay to Play — Or Else’ system of blackmail and intimidation to extract illegal campaign contributions, install loyalist patrons and eliminate ‘outsiders’ who might expose their unlawful activities,” it stated.
Patronis denied the claims. In 2023, the issue was put to bed when the case was dismissed, with the judge saying there was no proof of a criminal enterprise.
READ MORE: State CFO Patronis had lobbyist on speed dial just before suspending banking regulator
In 2019, state police also looked at whether Patronis broke state law and released am employee’s sexual harassment complaint against Rubin for political purposes.
Two years later, prosecutors in Tallahasee chose not to pursue criminal charges against Patronis, saying there was not evidence of criminal intent in Patronis’ decision to disclose the complaint.
He’s encouraged laws that make it harder to sue insurance companies
Floridians are paying among the highest auto and homeowners insurance premiums in the nation — and those rates continue to rise. To drive down costs, Tallahassee lawmakers have limited policyholders’ abilities to sue their insurance companies.
Patronis was among the state officials who encouraged lawmakers to change the law to make it harder to sue insurance companies. Some Republican senators believed the move would tilt the scales too far in favor of insurance companies. Trump called it a “bailout” for insurance companies.
Patronis has collected nearly $2 million in political contributions from insurance companies, executives and agents since 2010.
He blamed insurance company’s exit on wokeness
When Farmers Insurance left Florida last year, the firm’s exit left 100,000 policyholders scrambling to find someone else to cover them.
In response, Patronis accused the company of “playing politics” and of leaving Florida because its business was too focused on “sustainable insurance” and aligning investments with its social values, like avoiding investing in polluters or companies that sexually or racially discriminate against employees, a process known as environmental, social and governance investing that has become a recent political target for Republicans.
“I sincerely believe that with today’s actions, Farmers Insurance is well on its way to becoming the Bud Light of insurance,” he wrote, a nod to a controversy when Bud Light hired a transgender woman to run a TikTok ad for the beverage, triggering a conservative backlash and boycott against the company over its support of the LGBTQ community.