According to a report, sources close to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis say that privately he has indicated he plans to run for the GOP nomination for president in 2024. But, despite his intentions, a Florida law could complicate things for him.
DeSantis has certainly been following the playbook of a potential presidential candidate, including writing a book and traveling across the country, particularly to key states on the primary schedule. He plans to visit Iowa on Friday and then Nevada on Saturday.
DeSantis is expected to make his announcement following the end of the legislative session in May.
Though publicly noncommittal, privately, sources say his presidential candidacy for the upcoming election is inevitable. But state law might require him to resign as governor first. The so-called Resign-to-Run law requires state officials to resign from office before running for president of the United States.
The state legislative session started this week, but a bill that would clarify the Resign-to-Run law’s intentions is not on the docket, which could be a problem for DeSantis. Political experts in Florida say the time to clarify what the bill deems as qualifying for a presidential run is now, before the end of the current legislative session.
The law has been changed twice in the past. First, back in 2007, it was changed by then-governor Charlie Crist, who was looking to be a vice-presidential running mate. That worked out splendidly for him. However, it was changed again back in 2018 when former governor Rick Scott made the bill more restrictive and required state officeholders from seeking federal office without resigning first.
The state legislature can address the gray area of the Resign-to-Run law by more specifically defining what qualifying for federal office means.
“When is a person qualified, under Florida law, to be president of the United States?” Jaime Miller, former executive director of the Florida Republican Party, told the Daily Caller. “I think they will do it this session because there is a timeliness issue.”
Miller believes the legislature could clarify the law to explain that a candidate doesn’t qualify as running for president until he or she is the party nominee — essentially giving DeSantis some wiggle room to run for president. A Tallahassee-based lobbyist, however, suggests that the legislature could go a step further.
“I think the legislature is going to fix it to say that he would not have to resign until he took the oath of office for the presidency, and therefore, if he’s unsuccessful, he could come back and serve as governor,” the lobbyist explained to the Daily Caller. “You don’t want to disincentivize a sitting governor from running for the presidency for fear that ‘if I lose the presidency, then I can’t serve out my term as governor.’”
It might be a while before the legislature clarifies the law one way or another. According to the Daily Caller, “The legislature might wait until the final weeks of the session to clarify this law so it aligns with an expected presidential announcement from DeSantis, said [Ben Torpey, a Republican Florida political consultant]. It would be the ‘cherry on top’ of their conservative agenda.”
So in practical terms, DeSantis likely doesn’t have anything to worry about, but for now, until the law is clarified, you can bet there are some people who would argue that DeSantis can’t legally run for federal office without first resigning as governor.
