House Republicans on Thursday unanimously named Rep. Sam Garrison as their next speaker, formally setting up the attorney and committee chair to lead the Florida House after the 2026 elections.
Garrison will take the gavel at the Legislature’s organizational session in November 2026 and preside over the 2027 and 2028 regular sessions if Republicans keep their supermajority.
Garrison used the event to call for vigilance within the dominant party, warning that the biggest danger to its success is self-satisfaction.
“Our challenge isn’t the Democrats, it’s us,” he told members, urging lawmakers to study legislation closely and do the difficult policy work voters expect.
He said Florida’s continued growth demands sustained attention to health-care capacity, the corrections system, and hurricane preparedness.
“Our communities sent us here. And they sent us here for a reason. It is to be their voice. To bring our collective experiences to bear in addressing the challenges, and seizing the opportunities, we face as a state,” he said
Garrison, who chairs the House Rules and Ethics Committee, also credited early Republican leaders including Dan Webster, John Thrasher, and Jeb Bush for reshaping Florida politics and said today’s members “sit in the shade of trees these conservative giants planted.”
First elected in 2020, Garrison represents District 11. He also leads the House Republican Campaign Committee for the 2026 cycle.
Before entering elected office, he spent a decade as an assistant state attorney in the Fourth Judicial Circuit, where he helped establish Clay County’s first rape-crisis center and chaired the county task force on sexual assault and domestic violence. He later joined the St. Johns River State College Board of Trustees by appointment of Governors Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis.
Speaker Daniel Perez will continue to lead the House through the 2026 cycle.
“True leadership is about serving,” Garrison said in closing. “Behind every bill, every policy, every budget item are people. Our people, the ones who send us here to do our business, so they can do theirs. Let us recommit, together, to represent them with everything we have to give.”