DeSantis Signs Bill to Allow (Some) Sitting Politicians to Run for President

Perfect timing, it would seem.

“Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

On the same day as what the BBC called “The 2024 election campaign launch Ron DeSantis will want to forget” the governor of Florida signed a bill granting some exceptions to Florida’s “resign-to-run
law.

The Hill reports:

DeSantis announced in a release on Wednesday that he signed 20 bills, including one that will create an exception to a state election law that has required official candidates for federal office to resign from their positions if the terms of the two posts would overlap were the candidate o win their race. The bill that DeSantis signed will exempt candidates for president or vice president from the resign-to-run law. 

The governor signed the bill just ahead of his formal announcement that he is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. He filedpaperwork to enter the race earlier on Wednesday. 

The legislation passed along party lines in the state House and Senate last month. 

I do not have strong feelings in terms of what the rule should be, but I find it distasteful (to put it mildly) when the rules are manipulated to benefit a specific politician and it is all the worse when the person being benefitted is part of the process that grants the benefit.

I mean, if it really is worthwhile to exempt people running for president, why not just do away with the rule regardless of office?

FILED UNDER: 2024 Election, Democratic Theory, US Politics, , , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. CSK says:

    Something very similar actually happened in Massachusetts a number of years ago in order to prevent Mitt Romney from appointing a Republican to replace Edward Kennedy.

  2. Mu Yixiao says:

    Saw this earlier today, and wasn’t at all surprised.

    At this point, DeSantis makes the Daley empire look downright subtle.

    I want him to beat Trump in the primary, be forced to go head-to-head with the House of Mouse *every fucking day* during the campaign season, and get absolutely trounced on election day.

    If Bob Iger doesn’t already have his creative teams working on ads targeting DeSantis, I’d be very surprised. And… there’s absolutely no law against Disney spending a bazillion dollars on advertising and public outreach to bring DeSantis to his knees.

    Having worked alongside enough Disney employees, I have zero love for the Murine Empire. But… Unleash the Mouse!

  3. MarkedMan says:

    Everything, and I mean everything, modern Republicans work themselves into high dudgeon over, is just phony. They have no standards, morals, or ethics they wouldn’t abandon in 30 seconds.

  4. JohnSF says:

    @Mu Yixiao:
    All hail the first AI President, Michael Mouse!
    Well, where does it say the president has to be a human being, not a virtual avatar under copyright?
    Drama scenario: Congress battles to free elected president from creative control of parent corporation!

  5. Scott F. says:

    I do not have strong feelings in terms of what the rule should be, but I find it distasteful (to put it mildly) when the rules are manipulated to benefit a specific politician and it is all the worse when the person being benefitted is part of the process that grants the benefit.

    I would suggest you not put it mildly, as this is egregious political behavior. This guy wants the run the country the way he is running Florida, so we shouldn’t mince words when it comes to his political activities. Throw in his actions against Disney and “wokeness” and you’ll see authoritarianism executed more effectively than Trump could ever dream of.

    DeSantis is clear and present danger to democracy.