Florida Politics has obtained audio behind two endorsements that consumed St. Johns County.
Both calls open the same way: “Hello, this is Governor Ron DeSantis.” Thirty seconds for Heather Brofford in County Commission District 2, 32 for Sam Williams in District 4, in the Governor’s own voice, five days before a Primary that will turn on a few thousand votes in one county.
Word of the endorsements broke Thursday with no news release, nothing on either candidate’s website and no confirmation beyond St. Johns Citizen’s Selim Algar sourcing it to a Tallahassee source close to the Governor. The slow-growth activists working against both candidates spent the afternoon calling the whole thing manufactured, a dirty trick timed for the last week.
The suspicion had some local logic behind it. St. Johns is the one county in Florida where a faked endorsement is a pending criminal case. Commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst are charged over a fake voter guide that dressed a slate up as official Republican Party endorsements in the 2024 Primary, and both have pleaded not guilty. Their own colleagues voted 3-2 in July to ask DeSantis to remove them from office, with Arnold and Whitehurst casting the two no votes by phone rather than in person.
The Brofford call runs like this:
“Hello, this is Governor Ron DeSantis. I’m happy to endorse Heather Brofford, St. Johns County Commission District 2. Heather’s a wife, she’s a mother, and she’s a business professional. She will fight to protect taxpayers, stop overspending, and help the state fight illegal immigration. Heather Brofford will put St. Johns County families ahead of special interests. You can trust Heather to fight for our conservative values, and she has my endorsement. Election Day is August 18th.”
The Williams call:
“Hello, this is Governor Ron DeSantis. I’m endorsing Sam Williams, St. Johns County Commission District 4. Sam’s a husband, father, retired law enforcement officer, and a conservative Republican who’s dedicated his career to serving and protecting others. Sam will fight outrageous spending. He’s going to protect our parks and natural resources and he will stand up to special interests. He has the experience, the backbone, and the conservative principles to lead. Sam Williams is the true conservative in this race and he has my endorsement.”
Governors lend their names to local races constantly. A staffer writes it, the party sends it, the candidate screenshots it for a mailer, and the Governor never touches any of it. Sitting down for a voice recording is a heavier lift, and DeSantis did it twice for two seats on one county’s commission.
The scripts also spend their final seconds differently. Brofford’s ends on the date, the way a turnout call does. Williams’ never mentions Election Day, closing instead on a line aimed squarely at the two Republicans he is running against: “Sam Williams is the true conservative in this race.”
Those two Republicans are incumbent Krista Keating-Joseph, elected in 2022, and attorney James Galloway, in a universal Primary covering Nocatee, Palm Valley and Ponte Vedra. Keating-Joseph was one of the three votes that asked DeSantis to clean up her own board in July. Three weeks later he was in a booth calling her opponent the real Republican in the race.
Over in District 2, Brofford is one of four candidates running for the seat Arnold is vacating, alongside Tim Burres, Will McMullan and Martin Pyszczymuka. Jacksonville Today’s Noah Hertz walked that field last month: a retired Sheriff’s Office captain, a former investment banker, a retired FBI agent and a Citibank vice president, all four running against the growth that has made St. Johns one of the fastest-expanding counties in the country.
Both calls cut against the same operation. Slow The Growth is backing Keating-Joseph in District 4 and Pyszczymuka in District 2, running the pair as a two-seat referendum on what it calls the developer machine, and running hardest of all against Williams. It shares an orbit with Fight For St. Johns County, the Facebook operation belonging to Nicole Crosby, the registered Democrat who now runs Republican campaigns in the county.
DeSantis has history in the county. He won his first congressional race in 2012 out of a six-way Republican Primary in a district taking in Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns, then carried the general with 57%. Northeast Florida is where he was built, and he knows what his voice is worth on a phone there.
The contrast with the top of the same ballot is hard to miss. DeSantis has closed the door on endorsing in the Republican Primary to replace him, the race that decides whether his eight years get a sequel or an asterisk. He is sitting that one out, and he spent a minute of studio time on two county commission seats instead.
Early voting runs through Saturday and Election Day is Tuesday. St. Johns County spent Thursday demanding proof that the Governor had endorsed anybody. It’s on the phone.
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Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.
Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises Media and is the publisher of FloridaPolitics.com, INFLUENCE Magazine, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. Previous to his publishing efforts, Peter was a political consultant to dozens of congressional and state campaigns, as well as several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella. Follow Peter on Twitter @PeterSchorschFL.
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