Lawmakers seek to end the approach used by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to delay special elections

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Since Gov. Ron DeSantis took office, two different approaches have been taken when a member of Congress or the Florida Legislature resigns or dies.

Sometimes he acts quickly to call a special election to fill a vacancy and quickly get a replacement in office, especially if it’s a district where voters are likely to elect a Republican.

In other cases, he takes his time, waiting weeks to schedule an election, with dates far in the future, usually when a vacancy occurs in a Democratic district.

State law leaves the timing — when to declare special elections and when to hold special primaries and general elections — up to DeSantis. State Sen. Tina Polsky, a Broward-Palm Beach County Democrat, and state Rep. Michael Gottlieb, a Broward Democrat, is sponsoring legislation that would require governors to act more quickly, setting timelines for various scenarios.

Florida’s governor can fill many vacancies himself, including members of the Florida cabinet, county commissioners and school board members. But he has no power to substitute for the legislative branch.

For federal offices, the governor may appoint a replacement senator to fill until the next election. (Thus, Ashley Moody became the appointed senator after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio resigned to become secretary of state.) Vacancies in the U.S. House must be filled by voters.

Under DeSantis’ unexplained delays, lasting far longer than those of previous Republican governors, residents of sometimes empty congressional districts have gone months without representation.

“It’s scary that we can’t count on a special election in a timely manner,” said state Sen. Tina Polsky, a Broward-Palm Beach County Democrat. The result, she said, is sometimes “no representation for some people.”

Decisions are believed to be political. “It shouldn’t depend on politics or what the seat looks like,” Polsky said.

The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment about the Polsky-Gottlieb law or how DeSantis will decide when a special election will be held.

In 2021, in response to questions about the delay in setting the election date — and claims that his actions were aimed at keeping Democratic seats vacant — his press secretary said only then that he had “fulfilled his constitutional and statutory duties.”

No representation

DeSantis’ delay in setting special election dates means the Palm Beach County district of the state House of Representatives will not be represented in Tallahassee for the entire 2026 legislative session.

An unusual feature of the current example is that it includes the Republican-leaning District 87, which has 115,600 active registered voters — including the state’s most prominent Republican, President Donald Trump, whose official residence is his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.

The vacancy did not come as a surprise; This happened because DeSantis reassigned the previous representative to the new job. Former state Rep. Mike Caruso resigned from the District 87 seat on Aug. 18 when DeSantis appointed him clerk of the circuit court and comptroller of Palm Beach County.

DeSantis has scheduled a special primary election in District 87 for Jan. 13 to determine who will hold the seat scheduled for March 24 for a special general election — 11 days after the Legislature adjourns its 2026 session.

Although the position became vacant on August 18, DeSantis did not announce the date of the primary and general election to replace Caruso until October 24 – 70 days after Caruso resigned to take the gubernatorial appointment.

DeSantis acts quickly to set up a special election when elected. On July 21, Blaise Ingoglia resigned from the Florida Senate after DeSantis named him as the state’s new chief financial officer.

On July 22, the day after Ingoglia resigned to take the new office, DeSantis set the date for a special primary and general election to fill the vacancy.

The same day DeSantis set the dates for a special primary and general election in another Palm Beach County district on July 18 following the death of state Rep. Joe Casello.

That quick setting of dates for the special election stood out because Casello was a Democrat who represented a largely Democratic district. Voters chose Democrat Rob Long to fill the remainder of Casello’s term in a Dec. 9 special election.

Democratic districts

He often waits longer to call special elections in Democratic districts than in Republican ones.

When longtime Democratic US Rep. Elsie Hastings died on April 6, 2021, DeSantis waited 30 days to set the election date. He then scheduled a special primary for November 2 and a general election for January 11.

As a result, the seat remained vacant for more than nine months after Hastings’ death.

The district was so Democratic, that voters were sure to elect a Democrat.

Delaying the special election for Hastings’ vacancy meant Democrats had one less seat in Washington, D.C., making it difficult for then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pass her party’s priorities in the House.

In contrast, when President-elect Donald Trump announced in November of last year that he was promoting then-U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz to senior positions in the administration, DeSantis said the state had set election dates as soon as possible. (Gaetz’s nomination was eventually withdrawn, but he did not attempt to undo his resignation.)

DeSantis scheduled a special primary election for January 28 and a general election for April 1.

The Waltz district was unrepresented for 10 weeks, and the Getz seat for 20 weeks. Quick special elections in districts where Republican victories were virtually guaranteed led to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. made it easier to pass the Republican agenda.

DeSantis has delayed setting special elections in mostly Democratic state legislative districts.

Unlike a closely divided Congress, Republicans have such commanding majorities over Democrats in state legislatures that vacancies are unlikely to affect the outcome on major issues. In the absence of public representatives, there is no one to provide financial support for the project in the district.

Break with the past

Data compiled by the Harvard Election Law Clinic in 2021, the year he filed a lawsuit forcing him to set an election date, shows DeSantis has held open vacancies longer than his three predecessors, all of whom were Republican governors.

For 69 special elections set to fill vacancies, dating to 1999 and spanning DeSantis and previous governments. Rick Scott, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush, the dates were usually set very early. And the elections themselves were held more quickly.

No other governor in the past 20 years had to wait so long for an election after a vacancy occurred.

After Hastings’ death, DeSantis held the seat vacant for 280 days. The previous five special congressional elections occurred an average of 154 days after a vacancy occurred, according to Harvard Election Law Clinic research. That’s less than four months on average.

In another instance, on October 27, 2021, DeSantis set the primary and general special election dates for three Broward and Palm Beach County seats in the state legislature. The seats were vacated after all the MPs holding those positions tendered their irrevocable resignations in July so they could be eligible as candidates to fill the vacancy caused by Hastings’ death.

DeSantis waited 91 days to set two of the special elections and 92 days for the other.

And under his schedule, general elections took place months later: 223 or 224 days after vacancies arose.

issues

There is another format. When DeSantis delays setting special elections, he has repeatedly asked Democratic candidates or their supporters to ask a judge to order the governor to complete his election-setting duties.

When those lawsuits are filed, DeSantis often responds quickly to set election dates — ignoring the possibility that the courts will order him to act.

— In State House District 87 in Palm Beach County, he announced the election date 17 days after Democratic candidate Emily Gregory’s campaign filed a lawsuit for a court order forcing him to take action.

– In the congressional district represented by Hastings, he served five days after the lawsuit was filed.

– In a 2021 lawsuit filed by the Harvard Election Law Clinic on behalf of plaintiffs in state Senate and House districts in Broward and Palm Beach counties, DeSantis acted 12 days after the lawsuit was filed.

Legislation

Polski’s Senate Bill 460 and Gottlieb’s House Bill 597 would require, rather than authorize, the governor to call special primary and general elections. The measures, which will take effect July 1, require the governor to set primary and election dates within 14 days after a vacancy occurs in most cases.

If the governor doesn’t act, voters can ask a circuit judge to set an election date.

It does not apply the same time limit to every vacancy. If, for example, a state legislative vacancy occurs in December when the legislative session is scheduled to run from Jan. 13 to March 13, the seat could be held open until the regular August primary and November general election, Polsky said.

If there was enough time to hold elections before the session of the Legislature, the process would be expedited.

Similar legislation has not been advanced in 2022. Even if the 2026 version passes the House and Senate, it will face major hurdles. It then goes to DeSantis, who can veto it.

“It’s going to be difficult to enforce,” Polsky said, “especially because the person who has to sign the bill is the one who caused these problems.”

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