Race Analysis: Florida CFO

The Republican and Democratic primary contests for Florida chief financial officer are now complete, setting up the general-election matchup between Republican incumbent Blaise Ingoglia and Democratic nominee Annette Taddeo.

Ingoglia won the Republican nomination with 61.3% of the vote, defeating Frank Collige, who received 38.7%. Taddeo won the Democratic nomination with 65.6% of the vote, defeating Earle Ford, who received 34.4%, according to official results from the Florida Division of Elections. With both candidates through their respective primaries, the race now turns to the Nov. 3 general election.

Ingoglia was serving as a state senator when he received the Governor’s appointment, having represented Florida Senate District 11 from 2022 to 2025. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2014 to 2022.

A close political ally of Governor Ron DeSantis, Ingoglia served as chair of the Republican Party of Florida from 2015 to 2019. According to his campaign website, in that role he helped lead Republican campaign efforts in Florida, including those supporting Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

Born in New York City in 1970, Ingoglia moved to Florida in 1996 and founded America One Mortgage and later his homebuilding business, Hartland Homes.

Before entering elected office, Ingoglia built a public profile through his "Government Gone Wild" YouTube channel. He launched the self-described watchdog series during the Great Recession, intending to expose what he characterized as reckless government spending, high taxation, and political overreach. While supporters viewed the channel as promoting transparency and fiscal accountability, critics argued it functioned as a partisan platform that sometimes relied on sensational presentations of complex fiscal issues.

Ingoglia brought a similar emphasis on reducing government spending to his role as CFO. He partnered with the Governor’s Office to launch the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative that targeted local municipalities and county governments for fast-tracked audits and claimed to have identified billions in what the administration labeled "excessive" local spending.

Proponents of Florida’s DOGE have argued the program provides necessary oversight to protect taxpayers, while critics—including some Republican and Democratic local officials—have pushed back on some of the claims made by DOGE and Ingoglia. Some skeptics have suggested that the state’s DOGE audits are part of DeSantis’ broader effort to gain public support for a state property tax amendment that could reduce local autonomy and force local governments across the state to cut essential public services.

On his campaign website, the issues and priorities highlighted by Ingoglia’s platform include lowering property taxes, tackling waste, fraud, and abuse, housing and property insurance affordability, “Don’t New York Our Florida,” “DEI: Deport every illegal,” longtime MAGA supporter, “One Person, One Vote, No Exceptions,” “Protecting Your Right to Protect Yourself,” “Standing with Our Heroes,” and “Protecting Natural Florida.”

In August, Florida Bulldog reported that Ingoglia’s state-required financial disclosure did not individually identify more than 100 properties tied to four limited liability companies he controls. The properties, located in Hernando and Citrus counties, were estimated by the publication to have a combined value of more than $10 million.

The report cited Florida’s financial disclosure requirements, which instruct officials filing Form 6 to identify real property by street address or, when no street address exists, by a description that allows members of the public to determine the property’s location without consulting another source. Florida Bulldog’s review of county property records and corporate filings identified 55 Hernando County properties and 57 Citrus County properties connected to Hartland Homes and the other companies that were not individually identified in Ingoglia’s disclosure.

Ingoglia’s spokeswoman, Sydney Booker, told Florida Bulldog that the disclosure was filled out accurately and in accordance with the law and had been reviewed by an attorney. As of September 25, 2026, the Florida Commission on Ethics has not issued a public finding that Ingoglia violated the state’s financial disclosure requirements related to the properties identified in the report. 

Under Florida law, the Commission on Ethics cannot initiate an investigation of an alleged violation based solely on a news report. The Commission requires a sworn complaint or a referral from the Governor, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a state attorney, or a U.S. attorney before it can investigate such allegations.

Born in Colombia to a Colombian mother and an Italian-American father, Taddeo’s family fled to the United States when she was 17 after her father, who is a United States World War II and Korean War fighter pilot, was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas.

According to her campaign website, the family fled with “everything that mattered: resilience, a commitment to public service, and the belief that hard work still meant something in America.”

Taddeo attended the University of North Alabama, a college in the state where her family first settled after moving to the U.S. She graduated with a degree in Commercial Spanish and a minor in business administration. Several years later, she furthered her education with a two-year attendance at the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business.

She eventually relocated to Miami, where she founded LanguageSpeak, a successful multilingual translation and interpretation company that went on to receive recognition as one of the nation’s Top 500 Small Businesses and one of Florida’s Top 100 Small Businesses.

She raised a family in Miami-Dade and received numerous honors recognizing her leadership and entrepreneurial success from business organizations, community groups, and government entities.

According to her campaign website, Taddeo is running on a platform that promises to “stand up for Florida families” against insurance companies.

“Insurance companies are raking in profits while homeowners can’t afford to stay in their homes,” Taddeo says. “Tallahassee insiders are protecting themselves and their donors instead of the people who elected them.”

Taddeo first entered politics in 2008 with an unsuccessful campaign for Florida's 18th Congressional District. In 2014, she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Florida, running on a ticket with Charlie Crist.

Her time in the state senate (2017–2022) is marked by her advocacy for affordable healthcare, environmental protections, safe drinking water, and funding support for public schools and educators. Taddeo also advocated for stronger gun safety measures, including expanded background checks, raising the minimum age to purchase firearms, and other firearm safety reforms.

The Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is an executive constitutional officer who heads the Department of Financial Services and serves on the Florida Cabinet. The role was created in 1998 through a constitutional amendment that combined the offices of the comptroller, insurance commissioner, and state fire marshal.

The CFO's primary responsibilities include managing the state's finances, auditing payments, regulating the insurance industry, overseeing certain banking and financial functions, and serving as Florida's State Fire Marshal, including supervising arson investigations. As a Cabinet member, the CFO also helps shape broader state policy.

Ingoglia has reported raising substantially more in campaign contributions than his Democratic opponent, Taddeo. As of the most recent reporting period, the Republican candidate raised a total of approximately $2.39 million in monetary contributions and in-kind support. Separately, Friends of Blaise Ingoglia and the Government Gone Wild PAC, both political committees he chairs, have raised approximately $10.25 million combined since their formation, of which about $5.3 million remains available.

During the same period, Annette Taddeo’s campaign has raised approximately $163,358, including monetary contributions, in-kind support and a personal loan. Separately, the Friends of Annette Taddeo PC, a political committee she chairs, has raised approximately $129,451 since its formation, of which approximately $55,000 remains available.

For more information on candidates, election dates, deadlines, or to register to vote, check your registration, or submit registration updates, visit:
votemanatee.gov.

Campaign finance information is publicly available through the Florida Division of Elections; political committee financial reporting data is also available through the Division of Elections' online Committee Database Search.