Why DeSantis didn’t campaign for Republican who lost GOP seat in Florida Senate

After a well-financed Republican candidate lost the race for a Tampa state Senate seat last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday defended his decision to not get involved in the election.

Democrat Brian Nathan defeated Republican Josie Tomkow in the special election by just over 400 votes, despite a higher number of Republicans voting compared to Democrats.

“That’s just kind of the way the cookie crumbles,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis seemingly blamed Tomkow for the loss, noting that he won the district handily in his race for governor and that former Sen. Jay Collins also secured a solid win in 2022.

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“The reality is when I get behind a candidate, I’m telling voters that this is somebody that shares my values and that shares our goals for the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

“You have a candidate who does not do that, I am not going to be supporting them, and that’s what happened in that race.”

DeSantis said he wasn’t willing to support a candidate who has taken “really bad votes” and played “games.”

Tomkow, a former state representative, was part of House Speaker Daniel Perez’s leadership team.

DeSantis has feuded with Perez and the broader Florida House for more than a year over issues like tax cuts, higher education, immigration and inquiries into Hope Florida, a signature initiative of the first lady.

Tomkow did not immediately return phone calls Tuesday requesting comment about DeSantis’ comments.

In a statement, Nathan said that the race was “never about endorsements from political elites.”

“Voters didn’t care about party labels,” Nathan said. “They focused on whether the person asking for their vote actually lives in, works in, and understands their community.”

Though DeSantis noted that the Senate district isn’t necessarily an easy win for Republicans, he said the voter registration and turnout advantage should have delivered the race to the GOP.

DeSantis said that some Republicans must have voted for Nathan. He said he wasn’t sure if that was out of protest or another reason.

“I don’t know that it was a difficult election to win if you had the right formula,” DeSantis said.

Nathan, the union leader who won the state Senate seat, is running for reelection during the general election in November. Tomkow has also said she will run again.

This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 12:18 PM.