Like many of his appointment decisions, Gov. Ron DeSantis is in no hurry to name who will complete Sen. Marco Rubio’s term. His team is gathering names and conducting preliminary vetting. More extensive interviews will occur soon so the governor’s pick could be announced by the first of the year.
QUALIFICATIONS? “Be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and have a proven record of results.” It sounds like DeSantis might take the seat.
The governor posted on X this morning:
“Senator Marco Rubio is expected to resign from the Senate to assume duties as Secretary of State when the Trump administration takes power on January 20th, creating a vacancy roughly two months from today.
We have already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting. More extensive vetting and candidate interviews will be conducted over the next few weeks, with a selection likely made by the beginning of January.
Florida deserves a Senator who will help President Trump deliver on his election mandate, be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and has a proven record of results.”
Special Election Limbo
Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender says he still hasn’t received any information on the date for the special election to fill Congressman Matt Gaetz’s seat.
The News Service of Florida reported that David Ramba, executive director of the Florida Supervisors of Elections Association, suggested that the governor hold the special primary elections around Feb. 15 and the special general elections around April 1 to allow local elections officials to comply with the 45-day requirement for overseas and military ballots.
“Our position is that current voters who have submitted valid mail-in ballots in an election should be allowed to check the box or elect to continue to receive their ballot for the next cycle when they vote in order to ensure voters who wish to receive their ballot in this manner can continue to do so,” Ramba told the News Service. “This process of wiping out the list every two years is a huge workload for a supervisor’s office, which, in this case, is also trying to do a quick turnaround on a special election as well as re-educate voters that received a vote-by-mail ballot three months ago that they now will not receive it again unless they reapply for that service.”
