Daryl Campbell comes to Tallahassee this week, but his start day remains uncertain

Paperwork issues: Daryl Campbell may not be voting in 2022 Session. Image via Facebook.

Broward County’s newly elected state Representative will be packing his bags for Tallahassee this week — but he doesn’t yet have a time certain when he’s going to be sworn in.

Democratic Rep.-elect Daryl Campbell won a four-way Primary Election on Jan. 11 to succeed outgoing Rep. Bobby DuBose in Broward County’s House District 94. Since no other parties fielded qualifying candidates in the district that covers parts of Fort Lauderdale, Plantation and Wilton Manors, Campbell is the de facto winner of the General Election, which was scheduled for March 8.

Campbell said that conversations with Republican Speaker Chris Sprowls’ office and his Democratic colleagues have led him to believe he will be sworn in this week — although he hasn’t received the schedule for it yet.

“I am anxious — I really want to get to work,” said Campbell, who worked as an aide when DuBose served in the Legislature. “I’ve got to play catch-up, obviously.”

The unusual timing of Campbell’s election was triggered when U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings died in office last April. Three state lawmakers, including DuBose, resigned to run for Hastings’ seat in Florida’s 20th Congressional District. The schedule Ron DeSantis announced for electing their replacements presented the possibility that none of those successors would serve a day in the current Session. And that would leave a swath of Broward and Palm Beach counties unrepresented during a Session while redistricting is ongoing.

Campbell won slightly more than 40 percent of the vote in a universal primary and Broward County’s Supervisor of Election Joe Scott pushed for Campbell to be seated immediately. But the Democratic leadership in the House believed initially, after the election, that the Secretary of State’s Office would not certify Campbell’s victory until after the scheduled General Election on March 8, as has happened in the past.

The Secretary of State’s communications office said that Campbell’s Primary win will be certified on Tuesday. But spokeswoman Mallory Morgan has not given a definitive answer to a Jan. 13 question from Florida Politics on whether the Primary Election’s result certification will be enough to mean that Campbell gets a seat in the current Session.

On Thursday, Morgan wrote: “Our office is working on your request. Thank you for your patience.”

Democratic House Co-Leader Evan Jenne said: “We are moving ahead under the assumption he (Campbell) will be seated in the next few days.”