Florida House speaker calls DeSantis' handshake snub 'petulant' on first day of session

Alexandra Glorioso and Lawrence Mower, Miami Herald on Jan 13, 2026

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — During his final State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an early sign of how the last legislative session under his tenure will go: He snubbed the speaker.

When DeSantis got up on the House rostrum to address the Legislature, he shook the hand of the Senate president. He did not look at or shake the hand of House Speaker Daniel Perez, standing next to him. The three men are the top Florida Republicans aside from the president.

“I did notice that, obviously,” Perez, a Miami Republican, told reporters after the address. “I’m always willing to shake the governor’s hand.” He said a longtime member of the chamber told him it was a historic insult. “They had never seen that, and it was a sad day for the state,” Perez said.

Perez added: “Whether the governor wants to be petulant and not shake the hand of a partner, that’s on him.”

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After years of DeSantis having his way with the Republican-controlled Legislature, House lawmakers flipped on the governor last year, investigating the administration’s spending and his priority Hope Florida program for the first time.

The relationship between the governor and speaker quickly turned toxic. Perez told the Herald/Times last week that DeSantis hasn’t returned his calls since the combative session ended after two extensions in June.

The fight also cost Perez’s relationship with the Senate president, Ben Albritton.

Perez acknowledged he and the Senate president have had a difficult time working together.

“Politically, we’ve had our differences,” Perez said. “I’ve had my frustrations.”

Perez said he needed some kind of action from Albritton that would rebuild trust between them after their budget negotiations broke down last year. At the time, Perez thought they had a deal on a $5 billion sales tax cut in the House’s proposed budget. But later, Albritton said he couldn’t sell it to his colleagues in the Senate amid state economists predicting budget shortfalls in the future, and the governor’s public rejection of it.

“I believe the Legislature should be an independent branch of government, and if he were to agree with me on that, we will be able to talk,” Perez said about Albritton.

Albritton said after Perez’s remarks that he saw Perez as a “friend.”

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God,” Albritton told reporters, quoting a Bible passage. “That is clearly a goal that I have.”

But Albritton also said that his goal was to “facilitate a good process and successful outcomes here in the Florida Senate,” not to “facilitate between the governor and the speaker.”

And about the governor not shaking the speaker’s hand? Albritton was on the rostrum with the other two leaders at the time, having just presided over the opening ceremony.

“I hope that you will believe me when I say this: I didn’t see that,” Albritton said.

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