DeSantis, Trump Battle Brews Over Florida Election Law

Florida legislators will soon be caught between a rock and a hard place as they look to clear up potential legal boundaries standing in the way of Governor DeSantis’s anticipated 2024 presidential bid. Now, it appears that President Trump is poised to wade into the fray.A bill is expected to land on Mr. DeSantis’s desk by May 5 that would clear up any ambiguity in a law on the books in Florida that would, according to some legal observers, require Mr. DeSantis to resign his governorship in order to legally run for president.“If there is ambiguity, and it’s been something that’s been talked about — especially ad nauseam since November, if not longer — then let’s do it, let’s clarify it,” a state senator, Danny Burgess, told Politico. “That way, should we be fortunate enough to have a president or vice president from Florida one day, we’ve cleared that air.”While Mr. DeSantis has been de facto campaigning for months, even going as far as traveling to Japan to bolster his foreign relations resume earlier this week, at some point he will need to officially announce in order to avoid campaign finance violations.For months, it’s been reported that Mr. DeSantis is waiting until the Florida legislative session ends on May 5 to announce his intention to run, allowing him to pad his accomplishments as governor ahead of the GOP primary.With the end of the session only weeks away, clearing up any potential problems in Florida’s “resign-to-run” law is quickly becoming a top priority for Mr. DeSantis and the Florida legislators supporting him.There’s one big complication: Mr. Trump is reportedly promising to travel to Tallahassee to whip votes against the bill, according to reporting from Fox Business.This wouldn’t be the first time the two prominent Floridians have clashed publicly in their attempts to influence lawmakers. After a recent trip to Washington, D.C., where Mr. DeSantis hoped to secure some support in Congress for his presidential ambitions, Mr. Trump came out on top, with one lawmaker endorsing Mr. Trump as he left the meeting.So far, Mr. Trump has won support from a full half of Florida’s congressional delegation, with Representative Gus Bilirakis throwing his support behind Mr. Trump last week.The director at the University of North Florida public opinion research lab, Michael Binder, told the Sun that, despite the recent rebuke of Mr. DeSantis by some in Congress, he expects Florida legislators to push through the changes.“DeSantis has recently unmatched power and influence in Tallahassee. He’s got them doing all of his bidding, and then some,” Mr. Binder tells the Sun. “But Tallahassee is just that — a small state capitol — not the national stage.”Mr. Binder says he feels the passage of this law was “a foregone conclusion the moment somebody insinuated that resign-to-run could be an issue for DeSantis,” but that a win in Tallahassee would not even “register as a ‘win’” on the national stage.“It’s not at all the same playing field as congressmen endorsing Trump,” he says.What is clear, however, is that Mr. DeSantis has had a tough few weeks, which has translated into sliding poll numbers and criticism from his own party.When asked about those poll numbers at a press conference in Japan on Monday, Mr. DeSantis responded: “I’m not a candidate, so we’ll see if and when that changes.”The fight over the election law changes comes as the first attack ads against Mr. DeSantis hit the airwaves, courtesy of Mr. Trump and his allies.“Instead of being grateful, DeSantis is now attacking the very man who saved his career,” the narrator of the ad said. “Isn’t it time DeSantis remembers how he got to where he is?”

DeSantis, Trump Battle Brews Over Florida Election Law

DeSantis, Trump Battle Brews Over Florida Election Law

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