Representative Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, announced he would resign from Congress to campaign against Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
Mr Crist served as governor from 2007 to 2011 and ran as a Republican before he ran for Senate initially with the GOP before running as an independent.
He ran for governor as a Democrat in 2014 and narrowly lost to Governor Rick Scott before he won a congressional seat representing Pinellas County in 2016.
Mr Crist overwhelmingly beat Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried in the Democratic primary for governor to challenge Mr DeSantis, who is seen as the favorite to win re-election. Though, Democrats are hoping to beat him this year in hopes of neutering his White House ambitions.
Florida has a “resign-to-run law” wherein an elected official must resign their office to run for another one. Mr DeSantis resigned his congressional seat in 2018 when he challenged Democrat Andrew Gillum and won.
Mr Crist faced criticism for proxy voting while running for governor. The House of Representatives has allowed for proxy voting, wherein another member can vote for another member, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But Mr Crist used it frequently as he campaigned for governor, voting by proxy 107 times between January and April of this year.
Mr Crist’s district became more Republican after Florida’s Republican legislature redrew the map during its redistricting process that takes place every decade. Republican Anna Paulina Luna, a US Air Force veteran whom former president Donald Trump endorsed last year, is running against Eric Lynn, whom Mr Crist endorsed.
The Cook Political Report rates the 13th district as “Likely Republican.”
