Florida’s Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021. (Photo by Michael Moline/Florida Phoenix)
House Republican Rep. Debbie Mayfield, who had filed to run in the special election scheduled for the state Senate seat she held for eight years before being term-limited out of office last year, has been informed by the Florida Department of State that she has been disqualified for the race.
In a memo, the Division of Elections said that placing her name on the special election ballot for the state Senate District 19 seat would violate Article IV, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, which says that “no person may appear on the ballot for re-election … if by the end of the current term in office, the person will have served (or but for resignation, would have served) in that office for eight consecutive years.”
Mayfield stepped down from the Senate last year because she’d hit the constitutional limit of two four-year terms. She then ran and won the House District 32 seat last November.
Mayfield, of Brevard County, is lashing out at the disqualification, saying it represents political payback from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration for her endorsement of Donald Trump for president in 2023, after she had initially endorsed the governor for the GOP nomination for president.
“Today Gov DeSantis used the executive branch to punish me for endorsing Donald J Trump for President,” she said in a statement posted on X. “He has weoponized [sic] the Department of State just like Biden weopanized [sic] the DOJ against @realDonaldTrump. The law is on my side and we will fight for the people of Brevard.”
Voting rights analysts say they agree with Mayfield.
“This is insane,” said Nick Warren, an attorney with the ACLU of Florida, writing on X. “The department’s job is solely ministerial — to check if the candidate’s form is complete. This is a gross departure from the law and very disturbing.”
“This is a terrible precedent of the SOS deciding constitutional qualifications,“added Matthew Isbell, an election data analyst who mostly works with Democrats, on his “Florida Data Geek” X account.
Switcheroo
Mayfield was one of nearly 100 Florida Republicans who endorsed DeSantis for president in the spring of 2023. But she was also part of a group of state lawmakers who dramatically dumped supporting DeSantis in favor of Trump during a campaign event featuring all of the GOP candidates for president in Orlando in November 2023.
A special session is being held in the Senate District 19 race because the current occupant, Republican Randy Fine, will soon resign the seat as he runs in a special election for a seat in Congress. The Senate primary election is scheduled for April 1, with the general election on June 10.
The deadline to qualify for the race was at noon on Tuesday. Mayfield sent a letter to the Division of Elections last month announcing that she was resigning from her House seat as of June 9, as required by state law. The deadline to run for the special election for that House seat is set for noon on Wednesday.
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