Q&A – Florida’s Term Limits & What’s Next for Governor DeSantis?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: Hi Brian, I listen to you every morning, thanks for your even analysis and research on everything. I was glad to hear VPs are mostly unsuccessful when running for President as I hope the 2028 ticket will be DeSantis and Vivek.
My question, until 2028 comes, how can we get DeSantis for another term as Governor? I know he is limited to two consecutive terms but can it be changed like the "resign to run" with just legislators passing a bill? Or is it in the constitution and a whole big thing, so too late?
Keep up your excellent work!
Bottom Line: Thank you so much for the kind words. Alright, so about the topic of term limits and DeSantis’ future. As the Republican National Convention has come to a close what’s been widely revealed throughout the course the week has been the future of the Republican Party. However, unlike a year or two ago the national conversation doesn’t surround Florida’s governor. This is in part the price he’s having to pay for having unsuccessfully run for president. There’s no doubt that his star was tarnished to a certain extent on the national stage as a result of his unsuccessful, and unwise, effort to unseat Donald Trump at the top of the Republican ticket. Now, to be sure he was greeted to a heroes' welcome when he delivered his address at the RNC, and there’s no doubt he’s a prominent part of the party’s future, however rather than the party faithful at large dreaming of a DeSantis presidency in ‘28 - the way they were only a little more than a year ago – you rarely hear those conversations outside of Florida anymore. The conversation for obvious reasons is now about JD Vance as he’s Trump’s handpicked successor to lead the movement. As mentioned, only two sitting Vice Presidents have gone on to win the presidency, so history suggests JD Vance isn’t automatically a shoo-in to lead the party going forward. There may well be an opportunity for the DeSantis – Ramaswamy ticket you’d like to see four years from now. As we’ve seen with DeSantis’ prospects, a year can be a lifetime in politics let alone three to four years. But will DeSantis’ near-term future include an extended stay leading our state? The answer is almost certainly no.
First and foremost, it’s worth pointing out that Ron DeSantis will be Florida’s governor for another two and a half years. He’s still not even halfway through his second term as governor. But when that time ends his time as Florida’s governor will too for multiple reasons. I’ll start with the view of the possible.
In answer to today’s question(s) Florida’s term limits are a matter of constitutional law and thus can’t be changed by simply passing a new law, a la the amended policy enabling Governor DeSantis to run for president without having to tender his resignation as governor to do so. Florida’s constitution states that Florida’s governor may not serve more than two successive terms: No person who has, or but for resignation would have, served as governor or acting governor for more than six years in two consecutive terms shall be elected governor for the succeeding term. Therefore, a constitutional amendment would have to be enacted to undo term limits for DeSantis to run for governor again in 2026. Technically it’s possible, practically it almost certainly isn’t. And that’s for multiple reasons.
First and foremost, term limits are especially popular with Floridians. In 1992 a proposed amendment adding term limits to all state offices, and even to federal offices passed with 77% support in the state (the U.S. Supreme Court undid the provision pertaining to federal offices because states lack authority to regulate federal office qualifications). Should an effort be undertaken to amend Florida’s constitution to undo term limits there almost certainly would be significant political backlash within this state. There’s a good chance any attempt would significantly backfire not just on DeSantis but Republicans statewide. But perhaps most notably, there have been few stronger advocates for term limits for elected officials than Governor DeSantis. In fact, as recently as this year’s state legislative session (after having ended his presidential campaign) DeSantis shepherded a resolution calling for term limits for all federal offices that was passed and that he signed. In February he delivered an address to the U.S. Term Limits organization as a champion of political term limits. The bottom line is that the Republican Party from top to bottom would have to abandon a position they’ve historically been proponents of to make this happen. And that won’t happen. Now, here’s where it can get interesting for DeSantis in this regard.
You may have noticed in the constitutional language that term limits apply to successive terms. What it doesn’t state is a limit on lifetime terms. In other words, here’s what could theoretically happen. DeSantis is out as governor in January of 2027. Runs for president in 2028. If he doesn’t win (either through the nomination process or in a general election) he could run for governor again in 2032. As long as we’re talking about the view of the possible, I’ll throw one more wild card out there to consider.
There’s a very good chance Marco Rubio could serve within the Trump administration. I feel there’s a strong chance he could be the next Secretary of State. If that were to happen DeSantis would select someone to fill that seat. If that happened there’s the possibility that DeSantis could eye that seat for himself when it would come back up for election. If that were the case, he would place a person in the seat who had no intention of running to keep it, a la what Charlie Crist once did with George Lemieux. If DeSantis would be set on running for president, you would know under that scenario, by him appointing one of the many talented Republicans on the state’s incredibly deep bench that would potentially be posited to run for and to retain that seat for many years to come.