A favor for a billionaire car dealer and Republican megadonor, tucked inside a transportation law
A new law meant to make car companies sell through more middleman car dealers was pushed behind the scenes by Braman Management, the Miami dealership company founded by a GOP megadonor, records show.
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In late April and with little fanfare, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a seemingly mundane piece of transportation legislation that never attracted much public attention beyond a few changes clearing up the law around license plate frames.
But tucked inside that transportation package is a favor for a billionaire car dealer and Republican megadonor.
Records obtained by Seeking Rents show that lobbyists for Braman Management, the dealership group led by Miami billionaire Norman Braman, got Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature to pass a new law that essentially forces car manufacturers to distribute new vehicle brands through multiple middleman car dealers.
The provision, which some other lobbyists and legislators referred to internally as “the Braman language,” is apparently intended to thwart plans by a Volkswagen-owned car company in Spain that wants to bring its vehicles to the United States — but without necessarily selling them through dealerships like Braman’s.
Emails obtained through public records requests show that a top Braman executive helped write and edit the legislation. And the company simultaneously showered compliant legislators with campaign contributions — including $20,000 for the state House member who helped get the ball rolling on the company’s proposal and $50,000 for the powerful state senator who agreed to personally sponsor it.
It’s yet another example of Florida politicians in Tallahassee bowing to the car dealers’ lobby — and specifically to Braman, who records show has made than $2 million in state-level campaign contributions over the last four years, plus more than $300,000 to federal PACs supporting DeSantis’ presidential ambitions.
In 2023, for instance, lawmakers passed and DeSantis signed a law written in part by Braman representatives that was intended to make sure legacy carmakers like Honda and Ford can never sell new electric vehicles directly to Floridians. Braman gave $10,000 each to the House and Senate bill sponsors shortly after they filed the legislation.
One of Braman’s dealerships is also the lead plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit meant to sabotage Scout Motors, another VW-funded startup that wants to bypass franchised dealers and sell its electric pickups and SUVs straight to consumers over a mobile app. James Uthmeier, Florida’s appointed attorney general, used his office last year to try and help Braman and other VW dealers in their suit against Scout — right after taking a $25,000 donation from Braman.
This year’s lobbying campaign was sparked by Cupra, an eight-year-old Spanish company that has become one of the fastest-growing carmakers in Europe. Based in Barcelona and backed by the Volkswagen Group, Cupra focuses primarily on selling sporty electric vehicles that slot just below premium brands. The company recently sold its 1 millionth car.
Cupra now wants to enter the U.S. market. But most American states still have antiquated laws in place that generally prevent traditional car manufacturers like VW — and other carmakers affiliated with them — from selling directly to consumers.
So Cupra has been working on a deal to distribute its vehicles in the U.S. through one dealership network in particular: Penske Automotive Group, which has more than 200 outlets around the country, including five in Florida. During an April 2025 event in Miami, Cupra executives said they and Penske were aiming to open up showrooms in as many as 20 states by the end of the decade, though those plans have since been put on hold.
Cupra’s potential partnership with Penske seems to have upset some of Volkswagen’s other U.S. dealers — like Braman, whose collection of dealerships includes a location in West Palm Beach selling VW’s Audi brand.
In November 2025 — just a few months after Cupra’s media splash in Miami — a lobbyist for Braman Management approached state Rep. Mike Redondo (R-Miami) with a plan to prevent any exclusive distribution deal between Cupra and Penske.
Specifically, Braman wanted to rewrite state law to force a car manufacturer planning to distribute more than 3,000 vehicles a year in Florida to sell those cars through at least five different dealership groups in the state.
“Rep [sic] Redondo graciously agreed to submit the attached dealer language into drafting for us,” Erica Chanti, one of half a dozen lobbyists Braman has on retainer in Tallahassee, wrote in a Nov. 4 email to Redondo’s legislative aide.
The proposed legislation wasn’t the only thing Braman gave that week to Redondo, who is quickly becoming an influential figure in the Florida Capitol as he is expected to become speaker of the state House after the 2030 elections.
One day earlier, records show, Braman Management had made a $15,000 donation to a fundraising committee Redondo controls. And three days later, a group of Braman’s business entities — including Audi of West Palm Beach — contributed another $5,000 to Redondo’s regular campaign account.
Redondo put Braman’s language into House bill drafting, the first step before a proposal can be formally filed and voted on. Once staffers had finished drafting it, Redondo had it sent back to Chanti for feedback — who soon returned it with further edits proposed by Brian Shack, the general counsel at Braman Management.
Neither Shack nor Chanti responded to requests for comment.
Redondo ultimately passed the legislation off to Rep. Brad Yeager, a Republican from New Port Richey who sponsored it in the state House during the 2026 session, which ran from January to March. The matching Senate legislation was sponsored by Sen. Jay Trumbull, a Republican from Panama City.
They, too, received large donations from Braman in November 2025. Records show the company gave $7,500 to a fundraising committee for Yeager — and $50,000 to a committee for Trumbull, who is scheduled to become president of the state Senate after the 2028 elections.
Braman never publicly testified in support of the legislation. And supportive lawmakers never mentioned the company when answering questions about the proposal during committee hearings and floor sessions.
But behind the scenes, it was clear who they were trying to help — and why.
A lobbyist for the Florida Automobile Dealers Association even referred to it as the “Braman proposal” and “Braman language” in a pre-session email to Rep. Jim Buchanan, a Republican from Sarasota. Buchanan chaired the House Commerce Commerce Committee, which would later hold a hearing on the legislation.
“Braman is concerned and has proposed language to address VW’s desire to potentially sell Cupra (Spanish EVs) through a single dealer point in Florida,” the automobile dealers association explained in attached document sent to Buchanan.
Part of the reason the automobile dealers association intervened is that Braman’s original proposal threatened to create conflicts between smaller dealers and larger dealerships groups. And the plan briefly appeared to stall out toward the end of the 60-day legislative session.
But Republican leaders in the House resurrected it during the final week by inserting a slightly revised version into an omnibus transportation bill that was about to pass.
The rewritten legislation — which DeSantis signed in April and takes effect Oct. 1 — essentially requires a car manufacturer that sells more than 1,000 vehicles a year in Florida to sell through at least three separate dealership groups.
It also only applies to new lines of vehicles being introduced to the market — like Cupra. The forthcoming law includes a carveout for existing models where a manufacturer already distributes more than one-third of its cars through a single dealership group.
That eleventh-hour amendment was sponsored by Rep. Juan Porras, a Republican from Miami — who, records show, deposited a $7,500 donation from Braman Management shortly after the session ended.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated a timeframe. Norman Braman, Braman Management and related Braman business entities have made more than $2 million in state-level campaign contributions over the past four years.
C'mon, Jason, there must be some journalist with cojones -- whatever their gender preference -- who can find out what is contained in the final report of the Hope Florida Tallahassee grand jury about that dirty bird Uthmeier! I can't believe he is going to sashay into the AG's big chair in November without someone giving him a black eye (in print, of course.) Seriously -- Jimbo has literally poked citizens in the eye with a stick by announcing, with his boy Dee at his side, that he was launching a jihad (err, holy war) against Medicaid fraud. Diverting $35 million of state money is BIG TIME fraud.
Thanks for showing (again) the ugly side of American politics.