TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – While a recount continues in his race for governor, Republican Ron DeSantis’ transition team Monday announced staff members who would help set up his administration.
DeSantis last week announced leadership of the transition team, with Susie Wiles serving as executive director. Wiles chaired his gubernatorial campaign.
The staff members announced Monday were James Blair, director of policy; Chris Clark, director of recruiting; Drew Meiner, director of operations; Amanda Emmons, director of scheduling; Ben Gibson, general counsel; Dave Vasquez, press secretary; and Claire Whitehead, assistant to Casey DeSantis, the wife of Ron DeSantis.
Blair is a longtime adviser to House Speaker Richard Corcoran; Clark served as chief of staff to former Senate President Don Gaetz; Meiner is a former deputy campaign manager for operations for the DeSantis campaign; Emmons is a former staff assistant for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio; Gibson is a former deputy general counsel to Gov. Rick Scott; Vasquez is a former campaign manager for state Rep. Bob Cortes; and Whitehead is a former appointments analyst and regional representative for Scott.
A machine recount was ordered Saturday in the race between DeSantis and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum because of the closeness of Tuesday’s election. DeSantis led by more than 33,000 votes as of Saturday.