Latest news with #Tampa
USA Today
3 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
What is the Buccaneers biggest hope going into the 2025 season?
There are not many instances in the NFL where a team returns most of it's pieces after an early playoff exit, but that is what the Bucs did in 2025. Jason Licht and his staff looked at their roster and decided that there weren't any glaring holes, but rather some depth issues that needed to be addressed. Of course, they also had to bring back key pieces like Lavonte David and Chris Godwin Jr. in free agency, but after doing that there wasn't much else to manage in terms of contracts. Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox wrote up each NFL team's reason for hope in 2025, and for the Bucs, it is the continuity within the roster that is giving him reasons to be optimistic. The team may have exited the playoffs early, but they had a roster that was ready for something special and Jason Licht knows that. Knox writes, "While the Falcons and even Panthers may be ready to challenge within the division—expectations should be lower in New Orleans—the Buccaneers should be considered the favorites entering camp. Why? Because general manager Jason Licht once again made it an offseason priority to keep top players in the fold. Mayfield, Mike Evans, Tristan Wirfs and 2024 breakout back Bucky Irving were always going to be back for the coming season. However, Tampa also re-signed standouts like Chris Godwin and linebacker Lavonte David while adding new contributors like Haason Reddick and rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka. . .While there's no guarantee that Tampa will be better in 2025, it's highly unlikely to be worse. That's reason enough to believe the Bucs could be sleeper Super Bowl contenders." The offense returns every starter for the 2025 season that it had in 2024, with a new coordinator of course. As for the defense, they add Haason Reddick, but otherwise it also remains untouched. It truly is unheard of for a non-Super Bowl team to run things back like this, but who are we to question Jason Licht and his Super Bowl ring at this point?
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
DeSantis names Sen. Blaise Ingoglia Florida's next CFO
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed his ally Sen. Blaise Ingoglia as the state's chief financial officer on Wednesday, setting up a clash with a President Donald Trump-backed legislator who also wants the job. Ingoglia, 54, will fill the remainder of former CFO Jimmy Patronis' term. Patronis left the job in March after winning a seat in the U.S. Congress. Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican and businessman, is expected to face a primary challenge next year from state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who Trump endorsed for the job. In addition to supervising the state's finances, the CFO oversees the insurance industry and serves as the state's fire marshal. At a news conference in Tampa, Ingoglia vowed to defend Floridians from unscrupulous insurers, serve as a 'conservative pit bull' tackling wasteful government spending and support DeSantis' push to eliminate property taxes. Ingoglia said he thinks Florida's property insurance reforms have been effective in reducing waste and fraud but also promised to defend consumers. 'I want the insurance companies to listen … if an insurance company does not do what they say they're going to do and are contractually obligated to do, I am going to call you out,' he said. Ingoglia attributed rising property insurance premiums to higher replacement costs of homes and fraudulent claims. Home insurance costs in Florida spiked in third quarter. Are more increases on the way? A native of Queens, New York, Ingoglia owns the homebuilding company Hartland Homes and has a net worth of $28 million, according to his latest disclosure statement. He served as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida from 2015 to 2019. His resume also includes a stint in the Florida House Aside from his business and political career, he's an internationally ranked poker player, posting earnings of $468,282. DeSantis touted Ingoglia as a conservative warrior who has supported his agenda on immigration, property taxes and other key issues. 'Every single time we've had a flashpoint in Florida, Blaise is running into battle to stand up for people,' he said. Gruters, an accountant and former Florida GOP party chair, announced Wednesday he has enlisted two of Trump's top political advisers — strategist Chris LaCivita and pollster Tony Fabrizio — to help his statewide campaign for CFO. The two sides started trading blows Wednesday. LaCivita and Fabrizio branded Ingoglia a 'Never Trumper,' while DeSantis blasted Gruters as not reflecting core conservative principles. He mentioned Gruters' support of last year's ballot initiative seeking to legalize recreational marijuana as an example. 'If George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?' my response would be, 'No,'' DeSantis said. 'I can't do that without betraying the voters that elected me.'
Associated Press
4 hours ago
- Business
- Associated Press
DeSantis appoints Senate ally Ingoglia as Florida CFO
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has chosen a conservative legislative ally as Florida chief financial officer, a statewide elected position vacated when Jimmy Patronis ran successfully for Congress in a special election this year. The new CFO is state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a 54-year-old homebuilder and occasional professional poker player from the Tampa Bay area. Ingoglia will serve the remainder of Patronis' term and could run for reelection in 2026, where he would likely face GOP state Sen. Joe Gruters, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday that Ingoglia has been a stalwart supporter of the GOP agenda in the state Senate and would focus as CFO on issues such as property tax relief, insurance affordability and audits of local governments to uncover wasteful spending. 'I am going to be a proactive fiscal watchdog for Florida,' Ingoglia said. 'I've had a history of calling out wasteful spending, whether it's Democrats or Republicans.' Ingoglia is originally from the New York City borough of Queens and moved to Florida in 1996, according to his biography. He previously served in the state House and is a former chair of the state Republican Party. He was first elected to the state Senate in 2022. Patronis now represents a congressional district in the Florida Panhandle that was vacated by Matt Gaetz before his ill-fated attempt to become Trump's attorney general.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Gruters CFO campaign bolstered by Trump advisors as DeSantis boosts his preferred choice
Even the race to see who will run Florida's lesser known Department of Financial Services isn't immune to wider political battles. Joe Gruters, the state senator from Sarasota, has been running to be Florida's Chief Financial Officer for over a year, riding high with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, a reward for years of loyalty to the president. Gov. Ron DeSantis gave his own reward for loyalty on July 16, announcing that he would appoint State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, to fill the vacant CFO job, at a press conference in Tampa, outside Ingoglia's district. But shortly before that announcement, Gruters' campaign sent a news release saying that top Trump political advisors Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio were joining his campaign. LaCivita is a former Marine who was awarded a Purple Heart in the the Gulf War. He's a long veteran of Republican political campaigns and is credited as one of the framers of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign against John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Election, a series of brutal and deceptive advertisements attacking the then-senator's record as a Vietnam War veteran. 'The choice between a MAGA first patriot and a Never-Trumper is never really a choice,' La Civita said in a statement on Wednesday. "I've worked with Joe Gruters for years and can say that few have done more in Florida to advance the America First agenda. I fully support President Trump's endorsed candidate for CFO and will work to defeat any posers that stand in our way.' Fabrizio has also been in Republican politics for decades; he was a strategist for Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign against Bill Clinton. Gruters, a long-time Sarasota County GOP chairman, has been Sarasota County's state senator since 2018 and a state representative before that. After filing last year to run for Florida CFO he has raised over $348,000, according to the Florida Division of Elections. A certified public accountant, the state senator runs a local firm called Robinson, Gruters, & Roberts, which serves many of the establishment Republican political campaigns in Sarasota County. He was also the chairman of the Florida Republican Party from 2019 to 2023. Ingoglia not only supported DeSantis' failed 2024 presidential campaign, he was the fist Florida legislator to endorse the governor. DeSantis' challenge to Trump opened a wide rift between between the two, after Trump's backing boosted DeSantis' 2018 gubernatorial primary over then-Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. Gruters has also been endorsed by Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis, who left his CFO seat to campaign for Congress, creating the vacancy DeSantis is filling with Ingoglia's appointment. The race is something backstage version the the often open political conflict between Trump and DeSantis in Florida. The governor tried to take advantage of the president's briefly damaged status after the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection, but was ultimately shut down in 2024, when he earned just 1.6% of the popular vote from Republican primary voters. The two played nice publicly last week when they came together over a common cause: detaining immigrants. During a tour of Alligator Alcatraz, the president told DeSantis "You'll always be my friend." Christian Casale covers local government for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Email him at ccasale@ or christiancasale@ This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Trump, DeSantis political conflict flares in Florida CFO race
Fox News
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Charlie Kirk names JD Vance as guiding light for young conservatives, but says GOP must deliver on promises
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk points to Vice President JD Vance as the conservative candidate to beat among young voters in the 2028 presidential election, should he run. During an interview at last weekend's Turning Point Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, Kirk said he believes Vance will be the candidate that young Americans look up to as the future leader of the conservative movement once President Donald Trump leaves office. "I think JD Vance fits that mold really well," the political activist said when asked by Fox News Digital who the guiding light for young conservative voters in 2028 will be. Kirk, whose mission with TPUSA is to educate and engage young voters and students on conservative principles, named several qualities which allow the vice president to connect with younger people. "He can operate seamlessly in a podcast environment," he said, remarking that Vance has a "wonderful family." Kirk also mentioned the 40-year-old Vance, the third-youngest VP in the nation's history, relates to younger Americans because of his age, while acknowledging Vance hasn't committed to a presidential bid. "He's the youngest vice president in quite some time, one of the youngest in American history," he said. Beyond Vance, Kirk stressed that any future leader of the conservative movement needs to address the top concerns of young people in America today, namely the high cost of living. "But outside of the candidate, we need to actually be able to deliver and go to the American people and go to the younger voters and say, 'Here's how your life was, and now it's easier for you to own a home. You don't have to rent for the rest of your life. It's easier to get married, easier to have children.'" Elsewhere in the interview, Kirk warned Republicans that the GOP may lose the young voters that helped Trump win the White House in 2024 if they don't deliver on cost-of-living issues. "The biggest threat to the Republican Party in 2028 is if we do not deliver on our promises of [home]ownership for the next generation," Kirk told Fox News Digital. "The youth vote didn't just vote for Donald Trump. Young voters put Donald Trump in the White House." The TPUSA founder also stressed that the future conservative leader would have to deliver on the major issues conservatives of all ages are focused on. "We have to deliver on immigration, on the deportations. We have to deliver, I think, on managing the size and scope of the federal government from cost savings and from cutting spending," he said. Kirk mentioned that he "would love" for Vance to be the man that takes up the conservative mantle, referring to himself as a "big JD guy." However, he noted that it's more important that, whoever the candidate is, they are solid on core conservative issues. "I say, 'Guys, if we don't deliver, it doesn't matter who you run, because then we're going to have big problems,'" he said.
