Ron DeSantis has spent 2025 sending a message to Washington, D.C.
The Florida Governor is racking up numbers that nobody's seen in decades.
And Ron DeSantis made one decision that proved he's playing a bigger game than anyone realized.
Florida executed Norman Mearle Grim Jr. on Tuesday evening for the 1998 rape and murder of his neighbor Cynthia Campbell.
The 65-year-old Navy veteran was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison.
DeSantis' office confirmed Grim declined to make a final statement when given the opportunity.
Florida just shattered a 50-year execution record
Grim's execution marked Florida's 15th this year — demolishing the previous state record of eight set in 2014.¹
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, no Florida Governor has come close to DeSantis' 2025 execution pace.²
Florida now leads the nation in executions, surpassing Texas (five) and Alabama (five) by a significant margin.³
The execution surge puts the entire country on track to exceed 40 executions for the first time since 2013.⁴
Grim was convicted in December 2000 of killing Campbell after she went missing in July 1998.
Her battered body was discovered by a fisherman near the Pensacola Bay Bridge.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Campbell suffered multiple blunt-force injuries consistent with hammer strikes, plus 11 stab wounds to the chest — seven of which penetrated her heart.⁵
DNA evidence tied Grim to the murder.
He waived his right to appeal earlier this month despite being given a final chance by both the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court.⁶
The Trump connection nobody's talking about
DeSantis' execution spree didn't happen by accident.
The timing tells the real story.
In 2024, DeSantis signed exactly one death warrant.
From 2020 to 2022, Florida carried out zero executions.⁷
Then 2023 rolled around — the year DeSantis challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.
Suddenly, DeSantis oversaw six executions.⁸
Now in 2025, with Trump back in the White House promising to "execute everyone who commits murder in Washington, D.C.," DeSantis has already executed 15 people.⁹
That's not coincidence — that's political positioning.
John Blume, director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, laid it out bluntly.
"The most cynical view would be: It seems to matter to the president, so it matters to them."¹⁰
Trump himself has talked openly about supporting firing squads, hangings, and even guillotines.¹¹
Attorney General Pam Bondi pledged to pursue the death penalty "more often in federal cases nationwide."¹²
State governors who want to stay in Trump's good graces are taking notice.
DeSantis defended his record in May with familiar tough-on-crime language.
"There are some crimes that are just so horrific, the only appropriate punishment is the death penalty," DeSantis stated. "These are the worst of the worst."¹³
Florida's system gives DeSantis unprecedented power
Most states require court involvement before executing death row inmates.
Florida hands that authority directly to the Governor.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Florida stands out for "empowering the governor alone — and not a state Supreme Court or state court of criminal appeals — to select people on death row and setting their execution date."¹⁴
It's "a single person, one person in the executive, one governor deciding," as one analyst put it.¹⁵
That concentration of power means DeSantis can ramp up executions without legislative approval or judicial oversight beyond standard appeals.
https://twitter.com/CookedGooseinFL/status/1977713146040037774
The Florida Department of Corrections currently houses 266 people on death row — including two men in their eighties who've waited more than 40 years.¹⁶
DeSantis has already signed death warrants for two more executions scheduled for November.
Bryan Fredrick Jennings, 66, faces execution November 13 for the 1979 rape and murder of a 6-year-old girl.
Richard Barry Randolph, 63, is scheduled for execution November 20 for the 1988 rape and fatal beating of his former manager.¹⁷
If carried out, Florida will hit 17 executions for 2025 — the most in one year in the last 200 years.
Catholic bishops across Florida have written letters urging DeSantis to halt executions and commute sentences to life without parole.
"We simply propose that there is a better way to achieve the ends of justice," they wrote.¹⁸
The letters go unanswered.
Faith leaders delivered petitions with thousands of signatures directly to the Governor's office.
DeSantis' communications director responded with a one-liner: "A simple trick to avoid execution in Florida is to not murder people."¹⁹
That's the political calculation at work — positioning himself as the toughest-on-crime Governor in America while Trump rebuilds federal death row.
DeSantis is term-limited and widely expected to seek a position in the Trump Administration or gear up for another presidential run in 2028.
Every execution reinforces his credentials with the conservative base that demands swift justice for violent criminals.
The numbers speak for themselves — Florida has gone from execution moratorium to execution capital of America in less than three years.
And DeSantis shows no signs of slowing down.
¹ Alex Lanfranconi, spokesperson for Gov. DeSantis, Fox News, October 28, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Death Penalty Information Center, Alabama Reflector, October 28, 2025.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Alex Lanfranconi, spokesperson for Gov. DeSantis, Fox News, October 28, 2025.
⁶ PBS News, October 28, 2025.
⁷ NBC News, August 3, 2025.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ The Marshall Project, September 13, 2025.
¹⁰ John Blume, director of Cornell Death Penalty Project, quoted in ABC News, August 2, 2025.
¹¹ The Marshall Project, September 13, 2025.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ Gov. Ron DeSantis, quoted in ABC News, August 2, 2025.
¹⁴ Death Penalty Information Center analysis, PBS News, August 22, 2025.
¹⁵ Ibid.
¹⁶ ABC News, August 2, 2025.
¹⁷ Fox News, October 28, 2025.
¹⁸ Michael Sheedy, executive director of Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, PBS News, August 22, 2025.
¹⁹ Alex Lanfranconi, DeSantis communications director, The Daily Beast, October 29, 2025.
