April 29 (UPI) — Florida Republicans have approved state election law changes allowing Ron DeSantis to remain as governor while also running for U.S. president.
Previous Florida law said that anyone running for another office must step down from their current position. However, the new bill creates an exception for state officials running for president or vice president.
The law passed the House 76-34 on a party-line vote on Friday after passing the state Senate also along party lines on Wednesday, 28-12. The bill now heads to DeSantis’ desk for his signature.
Many have expected the Florida governor to announce that he is running for president, although he has not done so yet.
“If for some reason the governor is not going to win the president of the United States, I think he’s done a great job as our governor and I think he should stay here as our governor,” amendment sponsor Sen. Travis Hutson said before the state Senate vote, according to the Washington Post.
Democrats, meanwhile, chastised Republicans for the move, saying they were simply doing a favor for the governor.
“The ever-compliant [Republican] Legislature does the bidding of [DeSantis] once again,” Democratic State Rep. Angie Nixon tweeted after the measure was introduced earlier this week. “Their playbook is always to change the laws to suit their needs (not yours) for power.”
The measure also places additional restrictions on mail-in ballots and shifts the responsibility of determining eligibility from the state onto the voter. Democrats have criticized these changes as voter suppression tactics.
The bill, Nixon said, “is the latest attempt to manufacture confusion as a way to attack the freedom to vote in [Florida].”