The Washington Examiner reports that the Florida legislature just changed the state's "resign to run" law so that it does not apply to presidential candidates.
Florida's "resign to run" law, as its name suggests, meant that a sitting governor would have to resign from the governorship if he or she wants to make a run for a federal office, such as the U.S. presidency.
The background here is that all signs seem to point to the likelihood that Florida's current governor - Ron DeSantis (R) - is looking to make a run at the U.S. presidency. Florida's "resign to run" law, however, created a problem for DeSantis.
The problem, of course, is that, if DeSantis wants to make a run at the U.S. presidency, he would have to resign the governorship, and this would be expected to leave a bad taste in the mouths of all of those Florida residents who elected DeSantis to govern their state.
Now, however, this is no longer a problem for DeSantis.
State GOP Sen. Travis Hutson introduced the amendment to the state's "resign to run" law that would allow a Florida official - including the governor - to continue in that capacity as an official while seeking a federal office so long as the federal office is the U.S. presidency of U.S. vice presidency.
The measure easily made it through Florida's Congress, which has Republican supermajorities in both chambers.
The Florida House passed the measure by a vote of 76 to 34. And, the state Senate passed it by a vote of 28 to 12.
Now, all that is left is for DeSantis, himself - as governor - to sign the bill into law.
Hutson's, the amendment's sponsor, made it clear that the amendment to the "resign to run" law was clearly to benefit DeSantis.
“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 said.
DeSantis has yet to officially announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. But, he is certainly acting as a politician would who is about to make such an announcement.
This week, DeSantis, nonetheless, insisted that he has not made a decision about whether or not he will actually seek the presidency.
Whether or not this has anything to do with the fact that DeSantis is getting walloped in the hypothetical 2024 polls by the Republicans' top 2024 candidate - former President Donald Trump - is unclear.
