With the ouster of Florida Republican Chairman Christian Ziegler all but guaranteed, the state party executive committee’s next task is selecting someone to take over through the 2024 elections.

A new chairman, who could be selected on Monday — immediately after a planned vote to remove Ziegler, who is under police investigation after a woman accused him of rape, an allegation he has denied through his attorney — would take over a party that’s been surging in Florida.

Republicans have overtaken Democrats in registered voters, and keep gaining. And Republicans hold all statewide elected offices, dominate the Florida congressional delegation, and control supermajorities in the state Senate and House of Representatives.

With the 2024 elections 11 months away, Republicans want a chairman whose presence won’t stain its brand — and who can raise money to grow the party’s advantages in voter registration and mobilization.

“A chair has a lot of power and authority to run the party in a positive manner — or in a situation that we have right now (in which) we have a lot of headlines that distract from the message of getting Republicans elected,” said Richard DeNapoli, the state Republican committeeman from Broward and a former county Republican chairman.

An effective state party chairman can provide enough assistance and resources to county parties to make a difference in a close election, DeNapoli said. “If the (county parties) are operating at full steam, then they will produce more votes.”

Candidates

Ziegler retains the title of chairman, though none of its authority, in advance of a planned Monday vote to remove him.

Meanwhile, a sometimes contentious contest to replace him is underway, played out largely within a relatively small universe of party insiders, with developments chronicled on conservative media websites and on Republicans social media feeds.

Two major candidates are in the hunt: Peter Feaman of Boynton Beach and Evan Power of Tallahassee.

Feaman and Power are different generationally, geographically and professionally.

Both have long been active in Republican Party politics. Both have won elections to party leadership roles, and been defeated in campaigns for party offices. Both come from the handful of Florida counties in which registered Democrats outnumber Republicans, but where Republicans have recently achieved some wins.

Feaman, 70, a lawyer, is currently serving his third term as the state’s Republican national committeeman. That makes him one of three Florida representatives on the Republican National Committee, the organization that governs the national party.

He is a former state committeeman from Palm Beach County, and was defeated for reelection to that job in the county’s 2016 Republican primary.

As it became apparent Ziegler wouldn’t’ survive as chairman, Feaman said people urged him to run. “I looked at what’s going on and I thought to myself, after 20 years on the (party) executive committee I can’t walk away at this point in time,” he said. “I thought there was nobody more qualified to step into the breach than me, so I put my hat in the ring.”

Feaman said his top priority, if elected, would be to raise money to help local parties. He said he’s been in touch with his national contacts who have made “significant” financial pledges.

Feaman has been known for years to Palm Beach County Republicans as an outspoken conservative, and has written books, including “The Next Nightmare: How Political Correctness Will Destroy America.”

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Power, 42, a lobbyist, is vice chairman of the state Republican Party and has been chairman of the Leon County Republican Party for nine years. He has support from the two key factions of Florida Republicans: Gov. Ron DeSantis and supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Power became vice chairman of the state party after narrowly losing the race for chairman to Ziegler in February. He had previously lost a 2020 challenge to Feaman’s election as Florida’s national committeeman.

“I’m a county leader who has led a county party for the last 10 years. I’m battle-tested. I’m a guy that lives in blue county and we’ve won some competitive races,” Power said.

Even with the victories Florida Republicans have racked up in recent years, and Democrats lagging, Power said “there are places where we have work to do.”

That includes South Florida, where, Power said, “I think we can start flipping voters from Democrat to Republican” — even in the most Democratic county in the state. “I think Broward is the hardest egg to crack in that system, but it’s something we should spend time and effort working on.”

Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, said the outcome of the Republican leadership contest won’t produce anything positive.

“While I’m thrilled to see the Florida GOP finally cleaning house after the Ziegler scandal, it doesn’t really matter whether Evan or Peter leads the party moving forward. Both of them would keep pushing RPOF in the same direction: completely ignoring the real problems facing Floridians. While property insurance skyrockets and children lose healthcare, they’ll be too busy fighting their made up culture wars to put forward policies that would actually make Florida a safer, healthier, more affordable place to live,” Fried said via email.

Though the race is widely seen as a Feaman-Power contest, John A. Vacchiano, chairman of the Indian River County Republican Party, is also running.

“It’s because of this spiritual battle that we find ourselves in today that after much prayer and clear confirmation from my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and my beautiful wife Alicia that I officially declare my intent to run for chairman of our Republican Party of Florida and ask that you would join with me in fighting this sacred fight to guide our party back to the truth of our Declaration of Independence and our United States Constitution,” Vacchiano said in announcing his candidacy in a YouTube video.

Supporters

Feaman and Power have each touted a slew of prominent endorsements.

On Friday, power announced an endorsement from DeSantis. His others include U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who said “he will work tirelessly to ensure Republicans are elected up and down the ballot,” U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (and a contingent of other Florida members of Congress), and state Sens. Joe Gruters and Blaise Ingoglia. Gruters and Ingoglia are both former state party chairman.

Gaetz and Gruters are two of the state’s most prominent allies of former President Donald Trump.

Feaman endorsers include John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, which advocates conservative positions that include combating abortion and LGBTQ rights. He described Feaman as a “rock-solid conservative who is very strategic.”

He also has endorsements from Carole Jean Jordan, state Republican Party chairwoman, and Harmeet Dhillon, who unsuccessfully ran for national Republican party chair in January 2023.

Who decides

The deciders are about 260 members of the state Republican Executive Committee.

Its membership is made up of the Republican county chair, the state committeeman and the state committeewoman from each of the state’s 67 counties

Statewide elected Republican officials, Republican members of Congress, the state Senate president, House speaker, 20 other state legislators, and 10 gubernatorial appointees also have votes.

It takes a majority of those present to elect a chairman. If no candidate wins a majority, there’s a runoff.

One thing that adds a note of unpredictability: ballots are cast in secret, so neither candidate can be certain that the people who’ve promised them support will actually vote for them in private.

The people who decide on the next chairman already know the candidates. Feaman and Power have both been elected to leadership roles by the state Republican Executive Committee.

Why now

Normally the party would be well into its work toward the 2024 elections. But leadership of the Florida Republican Party has been in turmoil since late November, when the Florida Center for Government Accountability first reported Sarasota police were investigating a woman’s allegation Ziegler raped her in October.

The accuser had a three-way sexual encounter with Ziegler and his wife, Sarasota County School Board member and Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, about a year ago, police wrote in a search warrant affidavit. Another three-way encounter was planned for Oct. 2, but the woman canceled when Ziegler’s wife couldn’t make it, according to court documents.

He has not been charged criminally, and he has denied wrongdoing through his attorney, but Republican elected officials and party activists said he couldn’t continue leading the party.

On Dec. 17, the party revoked Ziegler’s authority and reduced his $120,000 annual salary to $1. A vote to remove him comes at Monday’s meeting.

Power then wants an immediate vote to elect a new party chairman. “I think the election has to be held on Monday. Fundraising can’t wait another month. We can’t wait another month to start building infrastructure,” Power said. “Time is not something we have to waste at the moment.”

Feaman wants the vote delayed until the committee’s annual meeting Feb. 10 in Orlando, arguing that a Monday meeting in Tallahassee won’t allow as many people to participate as a weekend meeting in Orlando.

“We should not have a rush to judgment here,” Feaman said, adding that “if it’s the will of the committee to have the election on Monday the 8th, I’ll be ready to go forward.”

This report includes information from Sun Sentinel archives.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Post.news.