Hialeah Republican Rep. Alex Rizo’s bid for the Senate now carries the blessing of the man poised to lead it and the chamber’s top designator of health and human services dollars.

Senate President-designate Jim Boyd and Sen. Jay Trumbull are both backing Rizo for the open Senate District 39 seat, which will be filled through a Special Election that has yet to be scheduled.

“We are proud to endorse Alex Rizo for Senate District 39 because we know he will stand with us to protect freedom and deliver common sense solutions,” Boyd and Trumbull said in a joint statement.

“Alex Rizo is a leader who has championed parental rights, historic school choice expansion, tax cuts for hard working Floridians and business owners, increased funding for public schools and teacher pay, workforce and technical education, public safety, and efforts to educate future generations about the horrors and failures of communism.”

Boyd, a Bradenton Republican and the current Senate Majority Leader, was formally designated last October to preside over the chamber for the 2026-28 term.

Trumbull, a Panama City Republican, represents SD 2 and once chaired the House Appropriations Committee. He now leads the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services.

Rizo also picked up endorsements this week from Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo, Hialeah Gardens Mayor Yioset De La Cruz and the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police, which cited his sponsorship of the 2024 “Halo” law, which lets first responders establish a 25-foot buffer around themselves and allows prosecution of anyone who enters the area after a warning.

Rizo, a six-year House member and former Chair of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County, entered the race Sept. 1.

“I have worked closely with Gov. DeSantis through the years, and now I am ready to continue fighting in the Senate for the conservative values and common-sense policies that have made the ‘Free State of Florida’ the very best in America,” he said in announcing his candidacy.

He’d secured another two-year House term without opposition in June, but is forgoing it for the Senate run.

Boyd and Trumbull were among the lawmakers who backed Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential run alongside Rizo. That sets up a contrast with Rizo’s SD 39 Primary opponent, Hialeah Republican Rep. David Borrero, who has played up being among the first five Florida lawmakers to support President Donald Trump’s comeback bid.

SD 39 covers all or parts of Doral, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Medley, Miami Lakes, Miami Springs, Sweetwater and Virginia Gardens.

Republicans account for 44.6% of its 234,368 voters, compared with 21.5% Democrats. Trump carried the district by 38 points in 2024.

The seat opened last month when Miami Springs Republican Bryan Ávila resigned to become Republican gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds’ running mate. Ávila’s term ran through 2028.

DeSantis hasn’t said when the Special Election will be held or whether he or his successor will call it. His office has told Florida Politics only to “stay tuned.”