Gov. DeSantis says it’s too soon to set Special Election for Geraldine Thompson’s seat

Geraldine Thompson seeks to make amends for the Groveland Four.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is waiting to set a Special Election date to fill Sen. Geraldine Thompson’s seat, but says it will happen as soon as possible.

“We usually wait until the elected official is put to rest and everything before we really charge into that,” DeSantis told journalists when asked about the situation during a press conference. “But we will set it. We’ll try to do that as convenient as possible for the local officials.”

Thompson, an Orlando Democrat who served in the Legislature for nearly two decades, died Thursday at age 76 from complications from knee replacement surgery.

“We stand ready to conduct a Special Election once it is called by Governor DeSantis and will work in close collaboration with our state partners,” Orange County Supervisor of Elections Karen Castor Dentel said Friday.

Castor Dentel will already be running scheduled elections in March and November for several municipalities in Orange County.

The Elections Supervisor said she was heartbroken to hear the news of Thompson’s death. Castor Dentel also pointed to one of Thompson’s accomplishments that has changed Florida’s elections.

Thompson introduced the 2015 bill that finally eliminated the “absentee” language to refer to vote-by-mail ballots, a move credited for increasing voter engagement in Florida.

Thompson served in the House from 2006-2012 and then again from 2018-2022. She was a Senator from 2012-2016 and then again from 2022 onward. 

Her family said in a statement, “Senator Geraldine Thompson was so much more than a dedicated public servant and visionary leader. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother whose love, wisdom, and compassion shaped their lives and the lives of so many in their community and across the state. Her tireless work in education, healthcare, and civil rights, including her leadership to establish the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando, reflected her unwavering commitment to creating a better world for future generations.”

Funeral arrangements have not been publicly released.