BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE—A 1988 Bradford High School graduate is now on the staff of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign for president.
Stephanie Kopelousos had served as the governor’s director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs since 2018. In June, Kopelousos moved from the governor’s office to DeSantis’s campaign for president as a senior advisor. She previously served as Clay County Manager and as Florida’s transportation secretary under Charlie Crist.
Kopelousos’s grandfather founded the Garden Restaurant in Starke, and her father, Gus, operated the eatery until selling it.
After graduating from Bradford High, Kopelousos earned a political science degree from the University of Alabama in 1993 and headed to Washington, hoping to land a job in government. Instead, she wound up as a hostess for a D.C.- area restaurant, falling back on her childhood job experience, waiting tables at the family business.
Congressional aid and FDOT
According to one media account, Kopelousos got her big break when a family friend in Jacksonville, who happened to shine the shoes of Congresswoman Tillie Fowler, mentioned Kopelousos to the lawmaker. Fowler gave Kopelousos an internship; from there, the Bradford alumna’s career took off. Within a month, Fowler promoted her to staff assistant and to senior legislative aid five years later.
Kopelousos joined Florida’s Department of Transportation in 2001, serving as the primary federal liaison for the agency in Washington. Her policy portfolio included transportation, emergency management, disaster relief, and housing. She was instrumental in coordinating state efforts during the passage of the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill and throughout two back-to-back hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005. In December 2005, she was appointed the agency’s chief of staff and served as interim secretary from January 2007 until she was appointed secretary in April 2007.
Clay County Manager
During her seven years as Clay County manager, the former Kingsley Lake resident earned a reputation as a hard worker and skilled lobbyist.
“She works hard,” said Clay County Commission Chairman Mike Cella when her appointment to the governor’s staff was announced, “24-7 and the weekends. It will be hard to replace that combination of knowledge and work ethic.”
Cella also said Kopelousos played a major role in bringing the First Coast Expressway to Clay County. The 46-mile toll road connecting Interstate 10 in Duval County to I-95 in St. Johns County is one-third complete, with motorists now able to use it from I-10 to State Road 21. The section between S.R. 21 and the St. Johns River is currently under construction and the river crossing and final leg to I-95 has been funded for construction in 2024.
“If you had to pick a person most responsible for (the expressway), other than the guys who voted for it, that person would be Stephanie,” said Cella. “She has been great working with our legislative delegation. Obviously, the governor thinks the same thing.”
Ethics complaint
This month, Kopelousos was reunited with her former boss when the DeSantis campaign announced that James Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff, would replace Generra Peck as campaign manager.
In June, the Florida Democratic Party filed ethics complaints against Kopelousos, Uthmeier and Director of Policy and Budget Chris Spencer, claiming that during the 2023 legislative session, the three used their positions to collect endorsements and raise money from Florida lawmakers for the governor’s presidential campaign.
“Any reasonable person could infer from the reporting that our governor was holding the state budget hostage in exchange for political endorsements and donations — actions that are both unethical and illegal,” Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a statement. “Public officials are employed to serve the people of Florida, not line Ron’s pockets.”
DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern labeled the complaints as politically motivated attacks.
“If the executive team wants to fundraise, knock on doors, or volunteer their free time, more power to them,” he said. “They have First Amendment rights like every American.”
DeSantis also defended his staffers when asked about the complaints.
“They’ve called friends, asked for support, donations, all this other stuff,” DeSantis said. “They have every right to do that. They don’t use state resources to do it. Of course not. But you have every right as a private citizen to be engaged and to be involved.”
