Charlie Crist, Behind DeSantis in Polling, Resigns from House Seat as General Election Looms
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Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) announced his resignation from Congress Wednesday as his general election matchup against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) looms in November.
According to recent polling, Crist, a former Republican governor of the state and now a Democratic congressman, is trailing his opponent.
In a news release, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee said the resignation would be effective at the end of the day:
U.S. Representative Charlie Crist (D-St. Petersburg) announced that effective close of business today, August 31, he will resign from his position as U.S. Representative for Florida’s 13th Congressional District.
Staff for the Office of the 13th Congressional District of Florida will continue to provide casework and constituent services until representatives for the newly redistricted 13th and 14th congressional districts of Florida are sworn-in in January.
In a separate statement, Crist said it was an “honor” to have served the state’s 13th district since 2017:
Serving as the Representative of Florida’s 13th Congressional District has been an honor and a privilege. When I first took office nearly six years ago, I vowed to defend our Veterans, bring jobs to Florida, fight climate change, and put people over politics.
As I close out my time in Congress, I could not be prouder of the work we’ve done to uphold those promises — passing legislation to support our veterans, expanding solar energy in the Sunshine State, securing millions in direct funding for community projects, and returning over $6 million in earned benefits to the people of Pinellas.
Two recent polls showed Crist with a lower ceiling than DeSantis in their Nov. 8 matchup.
A poll released two weeks ago by the University of North Florida, Crist has a hill to climb if he wishes to unseat DeSantis reached 50% support to Crist’s 42%.
A Cherry Communications poll showed DeSantis leading Crist 51%-43%. Both polls, however, were conducted before Crist was the Democrat’s official nominee.
Republican Anna Paulina Luna and Democrat Eric Lynn are both vying to fill Crist’s seat, which will remain vacant until January.
DeSantis resigned from his House seat when he won the GOP nomination for governor in 2018.
Florida’s “Resign-to-Run” law notes a person may not “qualify as a candidate for another state, district, county or municipal public office if the terms or any part of the terms would overlap with each other if the person were to be elected or appointed and did not resign from the office the person presently holds.”
