Florida’s largest registered club for Trump supporters has broken away from the state’s Republican Party. The Orange County Trump Republican Club was chartered in March under the Republican Party of Florida. Since then, its mission has been to maintain the momentum of election season and expand grassroots organizing ahead of the president’s re-election bid in 2020. But according to Club president Randy Ross, Florida’s Republican Party demanded rules that would limit members to registered Republicans.
“Not only did many independents and democrats vote for President Trump, many of them still support him, and as a result of that, we saw the club as being a transition, if you will, to them taking a second look at the Republican Party,” he said.
Ross dissolved the state charter, and the board moved to rename the group Trump 2020 Club. The group, which has more than 100 members and 2,800 Facebook followers, will focus on local rallies aimed at growing membership and the number of Trump supporters in the next Republican primary. The Republican Party of Florida could not be reached for comment.
President Donald Trump won Florida’s 29 electoral votes by a slim margin of 119, 770 ballots. Since then, the Republican Party has been working to strengthen its base.
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