Joe Gruters
Joe Gruters | |
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| Chair of the Florida Republican Party | |
| Assumed office January 12, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Blaise Ingoglia |
| Member of the Florida Senate from the 23rd district | |
| Assumed office November 6, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Greg Steube |
| Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 73rd district | |
| In office November 8, 2016 – November 6, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Greg Steube |
| Succeeded by | Tommy Gregory |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 6, 1977 Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Sydney Gruters |
| Education | Florida State University (BS) University of South Florida (MBA) |
Joe Gruters (born June 7, 1977) is the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, and a member of the Florida Senate representing the 23rd District which consists of Sarasota County and part of Charlotte County. He was previously a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Earlier in his career, Gruters worked on the campaign of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan as campaign manager and was vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota.
Political career
Campaign activities and rise to influence
Gruters lost his first two elections and worked behind the scenes on several more losing campaigns.[1] He joined Vern Buchanan’s original successful 2006 campaign for Congress.[2] Gruters subsequently was chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota for ten years, longer than any of his predecessors.[3]
Gruters gained political influence as an early supporter of Rick Scott during his successful 2010 campaign for governor of Florida. Gruters' support earned him a high-profile appointment to the Florida State University Board of Trustees. He became vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida in 2015, and had strong political backers when he ran for the Florida House of Representatives' seat in 2016.[2]
Trump supporter and Republican Party of Florida chairman
Gruters is one of Donald Trump's closest political allies in Florida.[4] An early Trump supporter, Gruters was Florida co-chairman of Trump's 2016 campaign.[5] Gruters forged a relationship with Donald Trump in 2012 after Republian leaders snubbed the New York celebrity at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Trump accepted an invitation from Gruters to invite him to speak in Sarasota the night before the convention.[6]
Gruters was elected to a two-year term as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida on January 11, 2019 at the party's annual meeting in Orlando, winning a two-year term. He defeated Bob Starr of Charlotte County and succeeded state Representative Blaise Ingoglia. Gruters passed out red "Keep Florida Great" hats ahead of the vote and declared that his "singular focus over the next two years" was winning reelection for Trump. Gruters's easy election coincides with more internal unity among the Florida Republican Party, which had been divided after a Jim Greer scandal and had suffered internal fractures during the Governor Rick Scott's terms, when Scott withdrew financial and organization support for the party after Ingoglia had defeated Scott's preferred candidate.[4]
Florida Legislature
In 2016, Gruters won election to the Florida House of Representatives from the 73rd District, which includes Eastern Manatee County and Northeastern Sarasota County, from 2016. In 2018, he won election to the Florida Senate representing the 23rd District, consisting of Sarasota County and part of Charlotte County. Gruters was endorsed in 2018 by the Florida Chamber of Commerce.[7]
introduced three environmental bills in December 2018, ahead of the legislative session to address red tide and other issues: one bill would restore septic inspection regulations that had been lifted during the Great Recession and another would fine polluters for sewage spills.[8][9]
In the wake of a fatal shooting at a California synagogue in 2019, the Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill by Gruters to combat anti-Semitism, including by requiring schools to deal with anti-Semitic behavior the same way they do racial discrimination.[10]
Gruters was a driving force behind Florida's 2019 law (S.B. 198) that forces local and state law enforcement to honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers and prohibits local government from implementing "sanctuary" policies (which no Florida government had adopted). The controversial bill passed the Florida Senate 22-18,[11][12] and was signed into law by Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.[12]
Gruters sponsored Senate Bill 796, requiring electric utilities to adopt long-term plans for burying electric lines as a protective measure against hurricanes; the Senate voted 39-1 in favor of the bill.[13]
Gruters filed a bill to ban abortions 20 weeks after fertilization.[14]
Gruters sponsored Senate Bill 230, a piece of legislation that would reinstate Florida's controversial quest to identify purported noncitizen voters. The legislation would require the supervisor of elections in each Florida county to enter into a local agreement with court officials to obtain a list of jurors who have self-identified as non-citizens. That list would then be compared to the registered voter rolls and the non-citizen names would be purged.[15] Prior efforts to purge the voters in Florida have been botched, with lists of purported "noncitizens" containing some U.S. citizens. The president of the League of Women Voters of Florida called Gruters' piece of legislation "most likely a politically motivated proposal."[15]
While in the House, Gruters co-sponsored the Florida Competitive Workforce Act to amend the 1992 Florida Civil Rights Act, the state's anti-discrimination law, to include protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.[16][17] In 2019, he introduced the Florida Inclusive Workforce Act to ban employment discrimination against LGBT people.[18] This was a scaled-back version of the legislation; unlike the bill Gruters had previously supported, it would not extend the anti-discrimination provisions in housing and public accommodations.[16] The omissions were opposed by the LGBT rights group Equality Florida; Gruters defended the bill's incrementalist approach, saying it would maximize the chances of passage.[16]
Gruters is also proposing legislation that would ban smoking at public beaches statewide. Violators would be fined up to $25 or given up to 10 hours of public service.[19]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Gruters pushed for legislation in the Florida legislature that would restrict voting rights in the state. In 2021, Gruters called for cancelling all existing mail-in ballot requests, saying they would "devastating" for Republicans up for re-election in 2022.[20]
Personal life
Gruters is a Certified Public Accountant.[21]
Gruters lives in Sarasota County, is married to Sydney Gruters and they have three children.[22]
References
- ^ Anderson, Zac. "Joe Gruters elected Florida GOP chair". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
- ^ a b Zac Anderson (December 26, 2015). "Gruters hitches his wagon to Trump". Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
- ^ Anderson, Zac. "Joe Gruters stepping down as Sarasota GOP chair after 10 years". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
- ^ a b David Smiley. "One of Trump's closest allies in Florida takes control of the state Republican party". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
- ^ "Donald Trump's Florida Man".
- ^ "Trump's man in Florida a believer from start of long-shot bid". Tampa Bay Times. 2016-11-02. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ^ "Florida Chamber is Proud to Endorse Joe Gruters – Florida Chamber of Commerce". www.flchamber.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
- ^ Ogles, Jacob. "Joe Gruters files water quality bills ahead of session". Retrieved 2019-01-23.
- ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sewage spills would lead to big fines under Sarasota lawmaker's bill". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
- ^ "Two days after deadly synagogue shooting, Florida Senate passes anti-Semitism bill". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
- ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sanctuary city bill clears big threshold with Florida Senate approval". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
- ^ a b Elizabeth Koh, Gov. DeSantis signs 'sanctuary cities' ban into law. There aren't any in Florida., Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau (June14, 2019).
- ^ Powers, Scott. "Push for underground power lines passes". Retrieved 2019-05-14.
- ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sarasota state Sen. Joe Gruters files 20-week abortion ban". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
- ^ a b Anderson, Zac. "Bill would revive Florida's controversial efforts to identify noncitizen voters". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
- ^ a b c Zac Anderson, Gruters files LGBTQ anti-discrimination bill, but some say it falls short, Sarasota Herald-Tribune (January 24, 2021).
- ^ 18 Republicans and Counting Support the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, Florida Competes.
- ^ Ogles, Jacob. "Joe Gruters bill focuses on ending workforce discrimination against LGBTQ employees". Florida Politics. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ Anderson, Zac. "Sen. Joe Gruters files bill to ban smoking on Florida beaches". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
- ^ Fineout, Gary. "'Devastating': Florida Republicans worried about 2022 as they crafted election law". Politico PRO. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
- ^ admin. "Joe Gruters - Paoli & Gruters Certified Public Accountants". Paoli & Gruters CPA. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
- ^ "Joe Gruters announces bid for state senate | Sarasota". Your Observer. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
Current members of the Florida Senate | ||
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