Florida Gov. Ron Desantis has expressed interest in the secretary of defense nomination in conversations with Donald Trump’s transition team should Pete Hegseth withdraw from the process, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump is mulling DeSantis as a possible replacement for Hegseth, The Wall Street Journal first reported on Tuesday night. Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News host, has faced questions about his past conduct, including allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct, that threaten his confirmation.
The Florida governor is interested in the role.
A Trump transition spokesperson and a spokesperson for DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to one of the sources, DeSantis began angling for the position before Trump nominated Hegseth for the job.
As Hegseth’s pathway to confirmation gets increasingly complicated, DeSantis and his team have made clear to the transition team that the governor is interested in the role. DeSantis, who is term-limited out of his governorship in 2026, served in the Navy as a judge advocate general officer from 2004 to 2010 and in the Navy Reserves until 2019.
Still, DeSantis isn’t necessarily a natural fit in a future Trump administration. His presidential primary run drew the ire of Trump and his team. Since Trump won the nomination, the two have made public appearances together — DeSantis even spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer.
But one of the sources speculated that if Trump were to tap DeSantis to head the Department of Defense, it would cause trouble for many in Trumpworld and the administration.
“He wants a perch to use to run for office in 2028 because he’s out of the governorship in 2026,” a national Republican operative told NOTUS. “I suspect if he ended up as defense secretary, it would cause a lot of people heartburn in the admin because he would bring with him a lot of staff who worked against Trump in the primary. If DeSantis becomes SecDef, you don’t just get DeSantis, you get the entire ‘Never Back Down’ operation.”
Hegseth’s nomination took many lawmakers by surprise — many knew little about the former Fox News host.
Since being put up for the cabinet position, Hegseth has been dogged by his past conduct. He was accused of sexual assault in 2017 — while he denied wrongdoing and was never charged, his lawyer told The Washington Post that he paid the woman in a nondisclosure agreement. Most recently, The New Yorker published an investigation that laid out a history of behavior, including excessive drinking.
Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week trying to reassure Republican senators, as the Republican conference has made clear his nomination is no sure thing.
If Hegseth does withdraw and Trump does pick DeSantis, the Florida politician may have to reckon with his past comments and criticisms of Trump to get picked.
At one point, DeSantis mocked Trump’s legal woes, saying in March of 2023, “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star.” DeSantis also took to CNN during the primary to say that “the presidency is not a job for somebody who is pushing 80 years old,” in reference to Trump.
“I don’t know if Trump or his team understand just how badly the base will revolt if he replaces Hegseth with either DeSantis or Ernst,” the operative said of Sen. Joni Ernst, who has also privately expressed interest in the post. “Pulling the plug on Hegseth so soon after dropping Gaetz would signal that Trump doesn’t have the influence over Senate Republicans that many people expected him to have.”
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Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS.