Jacob Ogles
Two Florida residents sued Gov. Ron DeSantis for dragging his feet on calling Special Elections to replace two Republican lawmakers.
“I don’t understand why the Governor resists calling special elections in a timely manner,” said Nicholas Warren, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida. “From Jeb Bush to Rick Scott, past Governors moved quickly to ensure the people retained their voice in government. DeSantis’s refusal to do so is both troubling and illegal.”
The ACLU of Florida filed the lawsuit on behalf of Navarre resident Christina Forrest and Palm Bay resident Janet Laimont.
The lawsuit came weeks after state Sen. Randy Fine, a Palm Bay Republican, and state Rep. Joel Rudman, a Navarre Republican, submitted resignations from their seats to run for Congress. Fine is a candidate to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz in Florida’s 6th Congressional District and Rudman filed to replace former Rep. Matt Gaetz in Florida’s 1st Congressional District.
“Brevard County deserves a state Senator who will represent us in Tallahassee without delay,” said Laimont, who lives in Fine’s district. “We’re filing this lawsuit to demand that the Governor fulfill his duty and ensure our community’s voice is heard.”
Forrest, who lives in Rudman’s former House seat, said Panhandle residents deserve representation as soon as possible.
“The Santa Rosa community has the right to full representation in the Legislature,” she said. “The Governor’s refusal to call a Special Election deprives us of that right, breaking with decades of precedent. It’s undemocratic and wrong.”
DeSantis notably urged the Secretary of State office to quickly establish a timetable for Special Elections for Waltz’s and Gaetz’s seat. Waltz, who is expected to join President-elect Donald Trump’s White House as National Security Advisor, hadn’t submitted a resignation when an election was called to fill his seat.
But both Fine and Rudman have. Rudman left his House District 3 seat on Jan. 1 and Fine will vacate his effective March 31. State law required both to resign before qualifying for higher office, and the resignations cannot be revoked whether they win or lose their campaigns.
Citizens have had to sue DeSantis before to urge him to call Special Elections, most notably when the Governor let a South Florida congressional seat held by the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, remain vacant for months. Hastings died on April 6, 2021, and DeSantis only after the lawsuit was filed scheduled a Special Election to fill the seat on Jan. 11, 2022.
Many ascribed partisan motives to that delay, as the seat leaned heavily Democratic and ultimately elected U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Miramar Democrat, to the seat.
But in this case, electorates in both SD 19 and HD 3 lean heavily to the right. According to MCI Maps, more than 59% of voters in SD 19 voted for Donald Trump for President in November, with Fine getting a similar percentage of the vote. In HD 3, Rudman won 78% of the vote in November, while nearly 55% of voters supported Trump for President.
Fine declined to discuss the case specifically but said he wanted a Special Election as fast as legally allowed. But he noted he will not be leaving office for some time.
“The Governor should call a Special Election so the people of Senate District 19 have representation as soon as possible,” he said.
