Northeast Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis resigns from Congress to focus on campaign for Governor

Northeast Florida Congressman Ron DeSantis has resigned, in order to focus on his campaign for Florida Governor.

DeSantis recently won the Republican primary for Florida Governor, and will face Democrat Andrew Gillum in November. Gillum is the Mayor of Tallahassee. One of them will replace Florida Governor Rick Scott, who was termed out of the position.

DeSantis informed House Speaker Paul Ryan about his resignation today.

In his resignation letter, DeSantis says he will "likely miss the vast majority" of the rest of the Congressional session because of the campaign, so it is "inappropriate" to accept a salary. He has asked that his resignation be retroactive to September 1st, so that he does not get any salary for the month of September. Our Washington Insider Jamie Dupree says DeSantis missed all 14 votes in the House last week, which was the first week of September.

Dupree further reports that nobody will be appointed to fill out the remainder of DeSantis’ term.

Instead, the next Congressman will be elected in November and seated in the new year. Republican Michael Waltz and Democrat Nancy Soderberg are running for that seat, which represents Florida Congressional District 6, serving St. Johns, Flagler, Volusia, and Lake counties.