After the passing of Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings (D), Floridians wondered who would fill the big void left in Florida’s 20th Congressional district. This week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who is tasked with setting the date of a special election to replace the late Rep. Hastings, provided Floridians a firm date for the aforementioned special election to replace Hastings, but Democrats believe that DeSantis is denying Floridians of their vote.
At a news conference in West Miami, Governor DeSantis announced that the primary elections would take held on November 2nd, and the general election to fill the vacancy would take place on January 11th, 2022. Thus far, 10 people, including six former and current elected officials, have declared their candidacies for the seat, but Florida Democrats are furious that the special election is not taking place earlier.
Democrats like Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) call it carelessness, and they’re slamming the Governor for not wanting to give the people of Hastings’ district “a voice in DC until next” year.
.@GovRonDeSantis could care less about D-20 FLA residents going w/o a voice in DC until next yr & far more about leaving a blue seat vacant longer and postponing an election until after a new GOP voter suppression law kicks in. Floridians deserve better.https://t.co/pmlpZOBiDd
— Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) May 4, 2021
On Twitter, the Florida lawmaker argued that Governor DeSantis “could care less about D-20 FLA residents going w/o a voice in DC until next yr & far more about leaving a blue seat vacant longer and postponing an election until after a new GOP voter suppression law kicks in.” She added that “Floridians deserve better.”
Both Democrats and Republicans are looking to expand their control in the upcoming 2022 midterm election, and Governor DeSantis is now facing his first challenger in the former governor of Florida, Rep. Charlie Crist (D). Now running as a Democrat, Crist once governed as a Republican, but he grew disillusioned with the Republican party. Governor DeSantis accused Crist of “slithering” his way around Florida politics.
In the same press conference, DeSantis expressed that “anytime there’s an open… office somewhere you can bet someone… like Crist is probably going to be slithering around for it so that’s fine but we’re just going to keep doing… what we’re doing” in the Sunshine State.
