Trump urges Sydney Gruters to run in Florida race to replace Buchanan

MIAMI — President Donald Trump urged New College Foundation executive director Sydney Gruters, the wife of Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters, to run in Florida’s 16th District on Tuesday, endorsing her to replace retiring GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan.

“Should she decide to enter this Race, Sydney Gruters has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, SYDNEY, RUN!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Florida’s 16th District is one of three open seats in the state in the upcoming midterms. But Gov. Ron DeSantis has called the Florida Legislature back to Tallahassee in April for a special session on mid-decade redistricting, giving candidates an unclear picture of what their districts’ boundaries will be.

Sydney Gruters told POLITICO in a statement that she was “deeply honored” to have Trump’s endorsement and said she was looking forward to “making an announcement about the path ahead very soon.”

“His leadership transformed our country and continues to inspire millions of Americans who believe in putting America First,” she said of Trump. “I’m especially committed to advancing policies that lower the cost of living for hardworking families across our community.”

Buchanan announced in January he would be retiring after 20 years in the lower chamber. The Gruters family is well known in the district, and Buchanan — one of the wealthiest members of Congress and vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee — has been instrumental in helping raise funds for GOP House leadership and cultivating the careers of other Florida politicians.

POLITICO first reported in early February that Sydney Gruters’ name was seriously being floated to run for the seat, and potential GOP entrants into the race have waited to see what the Gruters family might do.

Though Joe Gruters has a national political profile, Sydney Gruters has an intimate understanding of what a role in Congress entails, having spent most of her career working on the Hill and in government. She was operations director for Buchanan, then rural development state director for Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before landing at New College of Florida, she was district director for GOP Rep. Greg Steube.

New College is a small, liberal-arts state college in Sarasota that Gov. Ron DeSantis has revamped through appointing conservative-leaning trustees to create a classical education curriculum. The foundation Sydney Gruters leads is a separate nonprofit that raises and manages private donations for the college.