Jacob Ogles
The same day Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his campaign for President, he signed legislation exempting himself from the state’s resign-to-run rule.
DeSantis signed an elections package (SB 7050) that includes language allowing Florida elected officials to run for President or Vice President without submitting an irrevocable resignation letter.
There has been some debate about whether Florida’s resign-to-run law even applies to presidential campaigns, particularly during the Primary phase when delegate contests play out across different states. Importantly, the law only requires officeholders seeking positions with overlapping terms to resign. That resignation must be effective by the date they would take office in the new role they seek.
But the new law signed by DeSantis eliminates any uncertainty about his own path. Effectively, the change in state law ensures that if DeSantis isn’t successful in his run for President, he won’t need to resign before completing his four-year term as Governor.
DeSantis won re-election to a second four-year term in November. That term runs until January 2027. Should DeSantis win, he will still need to resign his post before being sworn in as President. Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez is in line to succeed him in that instance.
The change to the resign-to-run law was only added to the election bill near the end of Session. The legislation also touches on a number of other areas in Florida law, including banning felons and non-citizens working for voter registration groups from handling applications, under a threat of a $50,000 fine.
This isn’t the first time Florida has changed its resign-to-run law. The state exempted candidates for President and Vice President when former Gov. Charlie Crist was briefly under consideration to be Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate in 2008. And for years, candidates for federal office did not face the requirement.
But former Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill in 2018 that reimposed the requirement. Notably, the bill Scott signed did allow him to serve out his own term for Governor despite his run for U.S. Senator. He was sworn in days after most Senators in 2019 after he won a six-year term.
7 comments
Michael K
May 24, 2023 at 7:04 pm
Nothing like changing the law to suit your personal ambition. We should all be so lucky – if only to be reminded that we mere residents are just suckers. NAd of course, the only way Republicans can continue to win is through gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Ed Dot Com 👍
May 24, 2023 at 9:46 pm
Florida Xi Jinping..short lived. He will finish up his term, dye his hair blue, and move to The Villages.
Dont Say FLA
May 25, 2023 at 8:51 am
Rhonda is already halfway to being short lived. The first half! LOL
I bet Rhonda broke his own Twitter TV feed by standing his thick arse on his heightening box that he placed on top of some delicate fiber optic cable and his weight, too much to bear, broke it.
Nobody is Above the Law
May 25, 2023 at 9:28 am
Ron says nobody is above the law, so he changes the law as needed whenever he takes actions that would otherwise be illegal. That is not the guy you want as President of USA.
Appeal Appeal Appeal Appeal
May 25, 2023 at 12:18 pm
Rhonda better have solid legal reasoning for why he is excused from this law but nobody else is, especially when the bigger the office held, the bigger the harm to Floridians, and the longer the duration of that harm, via its abandonment for some campaign. “Appeal” may not be the right word for overturning a law, but yeah, Rhonda has no merit to his position exempting his run when it’s the most harmful run possible to Floridians, if one is to assume the effective absence of an elected official is harmful which, yes, that is the whole point of Resign to Run.
No Comprendo
May 25, 2023 at 12:22 pm
As Dog Catcher I had to Resign to Run for City Council because my lack of dog catching while I was on the campaign trail would have harmed Floridians. How is it that this law applied to me, a former mere dog catcher, but it does not apply to the highest office in the entire state? No dog catcher for 3 months is Illegal, but no Governor for 18 months? That’s fine? No Comprendo!
Nobody has to Resign to Run anymore
May 25, 2023 at 12:24 pm
Nobody in Florida has to Resign to Run anymore. It’s not just Ron. All you gotta do is announce you’re running for President along with whatever else you’re running for. You don’t even have to be on the ticket. Just announce “I am running for President” and you do not have to Resign to Run. Me. You. Anybody. Everybody. Ron is such a Mo.
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