TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday named conservative Rep. Cord Byrd, a Republican, as Florida’s new secretary of state, overseeing the state’s elections office.
Byrd, an attorney, has sponsored some of the most controversial bills in the Legislature in recent years, and he sided with DeSantis in an ongoing intraparty dispute over the state’s congressional maps.
In a statement, DeSantis touted bills Byrd has sponsored in recent years that were some of the governor’s top priorities, including 2019 legislation banning so-called “sanctuary cities,” a 2020 bill requiring that some employers check the immigration status of new workers and broad anti-rioting legislation in 2021.
