President-elect Donald Trump has announced the latest rounds of picks for his administration, and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demmings is considering a lawsuit against Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glenn Gilzean.
Burgum, Collins, Blanche among Trump's latest administration picks
President-elect Donald Trump announced a handful of additional selections to serve in his administration late Thursday. The picks include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as interior secretary and former Georgia Rep. Doug Collins as veterans affairs secretary.
Speaking at a gala at his Mar-a-Lago Club, Trump made an informal announcement that he’s nominating Burgum to lead the Department of Interior. That came shortly after Burgum refused to talk about his future in the incoming administration. He told reporters before Trump took the stage: “There have been a lot of discussions about a lot of different things” before adding, “Nothing’s true until you read it on Truth Social,” referring to Trump’s social media site.
Once little known outside his state, Burgum is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump — and spent months traveling to drum up support for him — after dropping out of the race.
Burgum was a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice this summer. The two-term governor was seen as a possible pick because of his executive experience and business savvy. Burgum also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs.
Trump also announced Thursday that he has chosen Collins to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Collins served in Congress from 2013 to 2021 and gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial, which centered on U.S. assistance for Ukraine. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was acquitted by the Senate.
Collins has also served in the armed forces himself and is currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command.
"We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need," Trump said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the president-elect has chosen Todd Blanche, an attorney who led the legal team that defended the Republican at his hush money criminal trial, to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official.
A former federal prosecutor, Blanche has been a key figure on Trump's defense team, both in the New York case that ended in a conviction in May, and the federal cases brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.
Orange County mayor considers suing election supervisor's office over scholarship funding
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings says he is considering suing the Supervisor of Elections Office over expenditures on non-budgetary expenses that include scholarships to Valencia College and funding for CareerSource Central Florida.
The elections office has more than $4 million left from the money earmarked for elections spending from the tax-funded budget, and Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean is using $2.1 million to fund student scholarships to Valencia College.
Gilzean said the funds will go to hundreds of students as part of the “Orange County Promise of the Future Scholarship Fund” — which he hopes will encourage civic engagement by requiring recipients to volunteer at the polls or the Supervisor of Elections Office.
The scholarship is open to students at Jones High School and Evans High School, with the goal of increasing voter turnout in “key voting deserts,” according to Gilzean.
The Supervisor of Elections Office also entered into an agreement to give $1.9 million to CareerSource Central Florida to cover program costs for qualifying Orange County residents. According to information from the agreement, the goal of the collaboration is to incorporate voter registration into workforce projects.
Gilzean said he inherited a budget when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him Orange County Supervisor of Elections following the retirement of Bill Cowles earlier this year. Gilzean said his goal was to use the extra funds to invest back into the people, and taxpayers, of Orange County.
“The community has come to me multiple times asking what I’m going to do to get young people involved. What are you going to do to increase voter turnout in key voting deserts?" Gilzean said. "This is just one way to not only solve those two problems while simultaneously getting young people civically minded, civically engage. I truly believe that is the best form of investing taxpayer money, and I will never back down from that.”
Demings said a potential lawsuit against the Supervisor of Elections Office will seek to recover funds used 'inappropriately."
"We do not fund the Supervisor of Elections Office to enter into agreements to provide scholarships," Demings said. "I remain concerned and I want to make certain this situation doesn't repeat itself in the future to the extent we can."