Sabitoni is the vice chair of the University of Rhode Island Board of Trustees.

Shekarchi downplayed the idea that the two were meeting about next year’s governor’s race, which the speaker and his $3.1 million (and growing) campaign account can’t seem to avoid being asked about despite his own denials that he is planning a run.

Shekarchi also said he met with lobbyist Lenny Lopes, who earns $5,000 a month to lobby for Meta (Facebook), while in Florida. As you might imagine, Meta opposes Governor Dan McKee’s budget proposal to impose a 10 percent tax on digital advertising.

The bigger picture: If you believe Rhode Island politics weren’t discussed when Shekarchi and Sabitoni met in Florida, I’ve got a bridge in East Providence to sell you.

Sabitoni is precisely the kind of person a Democratic candidate for governor would want in his or her corner, but there’s one hiccup at the moment: Sabitoni has been among McKee’s top supporters since he took office in 2021.

Shekarchi has maintained that he won’t run against McKee, but he hasn’t ruled out entering the race if McKee were to take a look at his middling approval ratings and take a pass on running for reelection next year. McKee has repeatedly said he does plan to run again.

Meanwhile, Democrat Helena Foulkes, who finished second against McKee in the 2022 Democratic primary, has all but formally declared that she is running again next year.

What’s next: All Rhode Island politicians have to report their campaign fund-raising totals on Friday night, and you can expect Shekarchi, McKee, and Foulkes to continue growing their sizable war chests.

In many ways, time is on Shekarchi’s side. While he doesn’t quite have the name recognition as McKee or the personal wealth of Foulkes, he has more power as the speaker than either of them. It has been notable that he has expressed more frustration with McKee’s Department of Housing in recent weeks.

I was up bright and early to discuss today’s edition of Rhode Map on “12 News This Morning.”

This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.

Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.