Alex Kelly's storm-filled (literally) 'welcome back' to Plaza

Now-U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean told City & State his former employee, Alex Kelly, is “just getting started,” but it’s hard to imagine how Kelly can top his current assignment: Being the Florida Secretary of Commerce and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ acting chief of staff at the same time. (Not to mention there’s a storm – that may become a hurricane – a-comin’.)  

“I knew what I was getting into,” said Kelly, who had been a deputy chief of staff for DeSantis. “I really knew the team here in the governor's office and I really knew the team at (Commerce), and they're both world-class … everybody's working together. It would not be possible at all without a lot of people chipping in.”

In an interview with City & State last week, the 49-year-old said he starts his work day at the Department of Commerce at 6 a.m., then closes out either in the governor's office on the Plaza level of the Capitol or at the department “somewhere between eight and nine” at night. “I'll work six to eight hours on Sunday. My wife definitely makes me dial it back on Saturday, so I might check the email for an hour,” he said. 

Kelly added, “Having this dual opportunity of being the acting chief and the secretary of the department, I'm blown away by the level of trust that the governor has placed in me. That means the world to me to know that he has that kind of faith in me that I can fulfill both duties.”