Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
South Florida voters will have more than one race on their ballot this summer.
Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order Monday calling a special election to replace Rep. Jose Felix Diaz in House District 116. Diaz resigned his seat to run in the special election to replace Sen. Frank Artiles in Senate District 40.
The House District 116 special primary will be held on July 25, with the special general election scheduled for Sept. 26. Those are the same dates as Senate District 40 special elections.
Diaz sent a letter to the Florida Division of Elections on May 17 resigning from the Florida House effective Sept. 26.
Florida law requires candidates who currently hold an elected position to resign their seat in order to run for another position, if the terms overlap. The law does not apply to candidates seeking federal office.
Republican Lorenzo Palomares Starbuck has also filed to run in Senate District 40. On the Democratic side, former state Rep. Ana Rivas Logan and Annette Taddeo, who ran for Congress in 2016 and was former Gov. Charlie Crist’s running mate in 2014, have announced they are running.
