State lawmakers have potentially put Jimmy Johns, a candidate for Congressional District 6 who's only a year and some change into his current four-year term as a St. Johns County commissioner, between a rock and a hard place.
Both the House and Senate voted in favor of state Sen. Travis Hutson’s resign-to-run bill, which would force local and state elected officials to resign their seats in order to seek federal office, should the new term overlap with the old term. Senate Bill 186 would require such candidates to submit their resignations no later than 10 days before the first day of qualifying for federal office.
For Johns, this would force a final decision by April 20, as the qualifying period for Congressional office is noon April 30 to noon May 4.
But that's just the deadline to make a decision, not to leave office. The actual resignation must be effective no later than the day that the candidate takes his or her new office, or when the person elected to replace them in their old jobs would need to be sworn in, whichever is earlier.
Florida law already provides the same requirement for officeholders seeking other elected local or state seats, but this expansion only goes into effect if Gov. Rick Scott signs the bill into law.
Johns was appointed by Scott in 2015 to fill the unexpired term of his predecessor, Cyndi Stevenson, who was elected to the Florida House of Representatives.
Hutson’s bill does not apply to an elected officer if the term of the office that he or she presently holds is scheduled to expire and be filled by election in the same primary and general election period as the federal office he or she is seeking.
Hutson has previously told The Record his intent was to close a loophole created by the legislature in 2007.
“Any state senator, like myself, could run for a seat and I would not have to resign my seat, so I could get on the ballot with no risk,” he said. “I could lose that election and I could come right back to my seat even though the voters chose someone else over me and I would still represent those voters.”
He said he could easily imagine a slew of officeholders jumping into fray to replace U.S. Rep Ron DeSantis, who is running for Florida governor, and with nothing to lose.
“I don’t like that,” Hutson said. “I personally think that’s ingenuous. That would just be window shopping for another seat.”
Then there’s the disruption and costs associated when the hypothetical officeholder does indeed get elected, which he said can create costly special elections and delays with appointments, among other inconveniences.
Johns has previously told The Record he’s keeping an eye on the legislation and that he’ll cross that bridge when he gets there, if necessary. He also said he made his decision to run based on the laws currently in effect.
“Based on how things come together, at that time, we’ll make decisions as we need to,” he said.
Johns is the only candidate for Congressional District 6 who would be affected by the legislation if it gets Scott's signature. Other contenders for the Republican primary include Fred Costello, John Ward and Michael Waltz.