Florida CFO Ingoglia Enters First Ballot Race With $6M War Chest

The man who has spent the past year dispatching auditors to local governments across Florida — including agencies on the Treasure Coast — is now asking voters to give him the job permanently.

State Chief Financial Officer and Fire Marshal Blaise Ingoglia, appointed to the role by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, formally qualified for the 2026 ballot last week with a combined war chest of more than $6 million across his campaign account and two affiliated political committees, public records show.

For Treasure Coast residents, the race matters in tangible ways. As CFO, Ingoglia has directed Florida Agency for Fiscal Accountability audits of local governments statewide, scrutinizing how counties and municipalities spent money since the pandemic. Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties have all faced increased state fiscal scrutiny under that initiative.

The Spring Hill Republican's campaign account held roughly $940,000 in cash as of May 31, after raising nearly $1.15 million total and spending just over $42,500 during the most recent two-month reporting period. His principal political committee, Friends of Blaise Ingoglia, carried nearly $4.4 million — the bulk of his financial firepower. Nearly a third of that committee's 54 donors during April and May worked in construction, real estate or the roofing industry, records show.

A third account, the Government Gone Wild PAC, retained nearly $1.2 million after $70,000 in outflows during the same period.

His qualified opponents present a stark contrast in resources. Republican Frank Collige of Glen St. Mary reported roughly $11,000 available to spend. Democrat Earle Ford, who had been running for Florida's 13th Congressional District before switching races last month, entered with $44,000 raised for his prior campaign. Former state Sen. Annette Taddeo of Miami opened a campaign account June 5 but had not yet qualified, public records indicate.

Taddeo, if she enters, is expected to focus her campaign on controversies shadowing the DeSantis administration: the Everglades immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz and the Hope Florida scandal, in which the DeSantis administration is alleged to have steered millions in Medicaid settlement funds to the governor's wife's nonprofit, which then routed money to political committees opposing abortion and recreational cannabis ballot measures.

DeSantis has publicly described Ingoglia as a "bulldog" for taxpayers. The general election is in November 2026.

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