Christian Ziegler elected as new chair of the Republican Party of Florida

Christian Ziegler has been elected to chair the Republican Party of Florida.

Ziegler defeated Leon County Republican Executive Committee Chair Evan Power in a vote taken during the Florida Republicans’ annual meeting in Orlando on Saturday. Power was elected as vice-chair.

Ziegler has served as the RPOF’s vice-chair for the past four years. He’ll succeed his good friend, Joe Gruters, who has chaired the party since 2019 but announced late last year that he would not run for reelection. Gruters will continue to represent the Sarasota area in the Florida Senate.

Ziegler grew up in North Georgia but has become a fixture in Sarasota and Florida Republican politics ever since Gruters recruited him to work on Vern Buchanan’s first campaign for congress in 2006.  He was elected as state committeeman in Sarasota County in 2012 and became vice-chair of the RPOF in 2019. He served as a Sarasota County Commissioner from 2018 to 2022.

Over the past few years, Republicans have moved past Democrats in party registration for the first time in state history while continue to dominate statewide elections. Speaking with the Phoenix last week, Ziegler attributed the surge in GOP support to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ leadership.

“He’s lowered the age of people joining the Republican Party and that’s because of COVID and it’s also because of the school stuff and his battle on cultural issues,” Ziegler said. “I think, from the leadership standpoint, we’re seeing Tallahassee tackle these issues that are so important to families and that have mobilized people.”

Ziegler is married to Bridget Ziegler, a Sarasota school board member who won a second term in office last year. She was one of the co-founders of the group Moms for Liberty, the conservative parental rights organization.