TAMPA, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday appointed state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia as Florida’s new chief financial officer, elevating the conservative lawmaker to a powerful cabinet post that oversees state finances, insurance regulation and emergency response operations.
The announcement came during a press conference at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, where DeSantis praised Ingoglia as “the most conservative senator in the state of Florida” and “a warrior” who will bring an aggressive watchdog mentality to the office.
“I want people that have conservative principles, but I want people that run into the fire and into the battle,” DeSantis said.
Ingoglia, a Republican who resides in Spring Hill, accepted the appointment alongside the governor, saying he’s ready to tackle Florida’s most pressing fiscal and insurance-related challenge.
“For the people who know me, you know I work night and day to be a public servant for you, and I care about these issues deeply,” Ingoglia said. “I’m going to work day and night to make sure that I’m not going away — to offer property tax reform with this governor and offer property tax relief to the state of Florida.”
Ingoglia said he will be focused on cutting wasteful spending at the local level and using his new authority to bring more accountability to how public funds are spent.
“I will be a proactive pit bull when it comes to proactive spending,” he said.
As CFO, Ingoglia will also serve as the state’s fire marshal, a role he said he takes seriously.
He noted that during his time in the legislature, he carried the bill that secured presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters and pledged to continue advocating for first responders.
“I will always stand with the firefighters if they become injured on the job,” Ingoglia said, adding that he’s now working on legislation to address post-traumatic stress disorder and the rising number of suicides among first responders.
Ingoglia also vowed to hold insurance companies accountable while working to stabilize Florida’s fragile property insurance market.
“If an insurance company does not do what they say, I am going to call you out,” he said. “We will have a vibrant insurance market that will push down rates.”
He said he also intends to address the state’s broader housing affordability issues, pointing to Florida’s efforts to “bend the cost curve” as a national model.
Ingoglia drew a sharp contrast between Florida and states like New York and New Jersey, arguing that responsible budgeting and conservative leadership have helped Florida thrive while other states lose residents.
“Do not New York our Florida,” he said. “We have more residents than New York, and their budget is twice the size of Florida’s. This won’t be the place that people flee from like New York and New Jersey.”
The chief financial officer is one of Florida’s four statewide elected cabinet positions and heads the Department of Financial Services.
The role comes with broad authority to audit government agencies that receive state funds, regulate insurance companies, investigate fraud and help shape financial policy.
DeSantis said Ingoglia will use the office’s tools — including the Division of Governmental Oversight and Economic accountability, or DOGE — to expose waste and abuse at the local level.
The appointment comes as Florida continues to grapple with rising housing costs and an unstable insurance market— issues Ingoglia now says are at the top of his agenda.
DeSantis, meanwhile, addressed immigration and Florida’s plans to manage the flow of migrants.
He defended the state’s controversial migrant processing facility in the Everglades, commonly known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“This is not the Ritz-Carlton,” DeSantis said. “It’s there to be a quick processing center so they can be flown to their country.”
He said the goal is to use the Alligator Alcatraz facility to process as many migrants as possible — between 3,000 to 4,000 — before activating a secondary site at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Clay County.
Watch the full news conference here:
