DeSantis path to campaign cleared as Florida House tweaks ‘resign to run’ law
Brady Knox
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The path for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to run for president is now clear after the Florida legislature clarified the state’s “resign to run” law does not apply to someone running for president.
The provision to a larger election bill passed easily in both chambers of the state legislature, with a 76-34 vote in the House and a 28-12 vote in the Senate. It will now go to DeSantis’s desk for him to sign. The move is the latest in a series of steps that appear to show the Florida governor inching closer to an announcement of his candidacy for president in 2024.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO CONSIDER PROPOSAL THAT WOULD ALLOW DESANTIS TO LAUNCH 2024 BID
The law currently states that elected officials must resign from their state office if seeking to run for a federal office, which would force DeSantis to resign from his position as governor if he enters the race for the presidency.
Some argued that the language of the law, which stated that “no officer may qualify as a candidate for another state, district, county, or municipal public office” without resigning from their currently held office, did not apply to those running for president.
State GOP Sen. Travis Hutson moved to settle the looming debate by introducing the ‘clarifying’ amendment — with the admission that it is geared toward a DeSantis 2024 run.
“I am a bit biased because I think Gov. DeSantis has done such a good job, so I just want to make clear that if he is not the Republican nominee [for president], he can be back,” Hutson told the NBC News.
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State Rep. Tyler Sirois (R) argued that Florida was the perfect preparation ground for a presidential run.
“I can’t think of a better training ground than the state of Florida for a future commander in chief,” he told CNN.