More than 1 million Floridians will not have representation in one of the two chambers in the statehouse this legislative session as Gov. Ron DeSantis has slow-walked setting special elections to fill four vacant seats between the House and Senate.
As the regular legislative session kicks off Tuesday, three state House seats and one state Senate seat – all formerly held by Republicans – remain vacant. That leaves an estimated 1.08 million Florida residents without an elected representative in the respective chambers, according to state population data, at a time when lawmakers are considering redrawing the state’s congressional voting maps and proposals that would drastically reduce local property tax revenues.
The vacant districts span some of Florida’s most populous and fastest growing communities, including portions of Hernando, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Sumter Counties in central and south Florida.
DeSantis’ tendency to delay calling special elections has come under fire for years, and the reasons behind the delays remain mysterious. Partisan politics alone doesn’t explain it: the current vacancies were previously held by Republicans, some in seats that are not expected to be competitive.
Floridians in those communities have been without an elected official since last fall, after sitting lawmakers resigned to run for other offices or take other positions. Under previous governors, those vacancies would have triggered routine and speedy special elections.
Jessica Lowe-Minor, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, called the situation under DeSantis “unacceptable” for voters who are “constitutionally entitled to representation.”
“It is imperative that voters are able to elect representatives of their choice in a timely manner such that any gaps in representation are quickly resolved,” Lowe-Minor said in a statement, calling on lawmakers to take action to prevent similar delays in the future.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Voters must wait for new representatives
As state lawmakers in Tallahassee celebrate the start of the legislative session with lengthy speeches in ornate chambers filled with bouquets of fresh flowers, voters are heading to the polls for special primary elections for some of the vacant seats.
But they will have to wait until after the regular session is over before they’ll get their next elected representatives. General election day for three of the seats is set for March 24, more than a week after the session is scheduled to end on March 13.
Scores of Floridians are being deprived of their rights to representation, attorneys argued in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida in September to challenge the delay in scheduling special elections.
Among the constituents going without their full representation is Cort Lippe, a Hillsborough County resident who was the petitioner in the ACLU case.
“Petitioner will go without the representation to which he is entitled in the 2026 legislative session and for weeks, potentially months, afterward — during which legislators provide constituent services, perform official duties, and may be called back into special session,” the lawsuit said. “Petitioner’s voice, and the voices of his neighbors, will go unheard in the Capitol.”
It’s not the first time Florida voters have turned to the courts to trigger a special election. Attorneys at the Harvard Law School Election Law Clinic filed a lawsuit in 2021 focused on vacancies in three majority-Black legislative districts, which at the time had been vacant for more than 75 days.
“No other Governor in living memory has waited even half this long to schedule a special election,” the 2021 legal filing said.
No election set for House seat in Miami-Dade County
It’s still not clear when voters in Miami-Dade County will be able to choose their next representative for state House District 113. DeSantis still has not set a date for that special election, more than 55 days after then-Republican state Rep. Vicki Lopez resigned her seat to take an appointment to the Miami-Dade County Commission.
DeSantis has waited far longer than his predecessors to set the special election process in motion following vacancies, according to a legal filing by the ACLU of Florida. Of the 65 vacancies that occurred between 1999 to 2000, it took governors about a week on average to announce a special election.
“I’m not sure why the governor proves himself repeatedly unwilling to call timely special elections. His predecessors like Jeb Bush and Rick Scott always acted swiftly to ensure citizens retained their voice in government,” ACLU of Florida staff attorney Nicholas Warren said in a September statement. “Governor DeSantis’s refusal to follow their example is not just concerning, it’s also against the law.”
Once timely, DeSantis delays special elections
In the past, DeSantis has shown how quickly he can move to restore representation for constituents. When he tapped then-state Rep. Danny Burgess to lead the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs in 2019, DeSantis announced the dates for the special election to replace him on the very same day.
More recently, the term-limited governor has taken weeks or months to kickstart the voting process.
After DeSantis appointed then-state Rep. Mike Caruso to be the next Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller for Palm Beach County, it took the governor more than 65 days to announce when special elections would take place to fill Caruso’s seat. When DeSantis named then-state Sen. Jay Collins as his lieutenant governor, it took him more than 70 days to schedule those elections.
Both seats remain vacant, as voters wait for their special elections.
Kate Payne is The Tributary’s state government reporter. She can be reached at kate.payne@floridatrib.org.
