Florida Republicans toss loyalty pledge requirement to get onto primary ballot
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Top Florida Republicans voted on Friday to rescind a requirement that GOP presidential candidates sign an oath to support the party’s eventual nominee to qualify for the state’s primary ballot, dealing a major blow to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies, who lobbied state GOP leaders to uphold the rule.
The vote by the Republican Party of Florida Executive Board, conducted behind closed doors at an Orlando hotel, simultaneously marked a victory for former President Donald Trump, whose allies had sought to challenge the loyalty pledge requirement.
Trump, the heavy favorite to capture the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, hasn’t agreed to support the eventual nominee. He has also refused to sign off on a similar pledge pushed by the Republican National Committee as a requirement to participate in its primary debates.
DeSantis’ allies fought to keep the loyalty oath, arguing that there should be no question about supporting the eventual Republican nominee.
The Friday vote is likely to raise questions about the continued strength of DeSantis’ influence over Republicans in his own state party. Both he and Trump are heavyweights within the Florida GOP, and the loyalty pledge vote was seen as a test of their support among state party leaders.
Florida’s March 19 presidential primary carries high stakes. Not only will it be a winner-take-all primary – meaning the top vote-getter will receive all of the state’s 125 delegates — but those delegates will account for nearly a tenth of the total needed to win the 2024 nomination.
The Florida Republican Party signed off on the loyalty pledge requirement at an executive board meeting in May. That oath, according to a copy submitted to the state Division of Elections, includes a promise to “endorse the 2024 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is.” Candidates must also pledge to not “run as an independent, non-party affiliated, or write-in candidate.”
Florida Republican leaders argued at the time that the pledge requirement was intended to ensure that Republicans are united heading into the 2024 presidential election.
But Trump’s refusal to commit his support to the eventual nominee also left party leaders with a difficult choice: follow party bylaws and potentially omit the former president from its list of candidates or revoke the requirement and face likely accusations of acquiescing to Trump’s demands.
There wasn’t a precedent for such a pledge in Florida. The state GOP hasn’t required candidates to sign a loyalty oath in past years in order to make it on the ballot, not even in 2016 when two other Floridians, former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, sought the party’s presidential nod.
Such loyalty oaths are also more symbolic than they are practical. Neither the RNC or the state Republican Party has the power to actually force a candidate to endorse the eventual nominee, and Trump has shown a willingness in the past to renege on loyalty pledges. Eight years ago, during his first presidential bid, Trump signed an RNC-sanctioned oath, but later reversed course, saying that he would simply ignore it if he didn’t win the nomination.
