Lawsuit filed to force DeSantis to call special election for vacant Miami-Dade seat

More than a month after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a state House member to serve as Miami-Dade County clerk of court and comptroller, a newly filed lawsuit seeks to force him to call a special election to fill the legislative seat.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Leon County circuit court, contends that DeSantis should be required to call a special general election in Miami-Dade’s House District 118 “no later than” Nov. 21 to replace former Rep. Juan Alfonso Fernandez-Barquin, a Republican.

The House is scheduled to start holding committee meetings during the week of Sept. 18 in advance of the 2024 legislative session, which will start in January.

“His [DeSantis’] inability to do his duty leaves the constituents of District 118 without representation and threatens to deprive them of a voice in the halls of the People’s House during the interim committee weeks that begin in less than nine weeks and the 2024 session afterward,” said the lawsuit, filed by ACLU Foundation of Florida attorneys on behalf of plaintiff Layssa Zamora, a voter in the district.

While it is unclear when a special election will be held, House Republican leaders have started preparing for the race. Rep. Daniel Perez, a Miami Republican who is in line to become House speaker in November 2024, announced on June 20 that he was endorsing attorney Michael Redondo and providing the backing of the House GOP’s campaign arm.

“I am proud to have the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee lined up behind him in the special election for HD 118 and look forward to campaigning beside him, as he lays out his vision to voters,” Perez said in a statement at the time.

DeSantis also has not called a special election in House District 35, which opened June 30 as former Rep. Fred Hawkins, R-St. Cloud, became president of South Florida State College. The district is made up of parts of Orange and Osceola counties, and Perez last month endorsed Osceola County School Board member Erika Booth in the special election.

DeSantis announced June 9 that he was appointing Fernandez-Barquin to the clerk’s job. Fernandez-Barquin resigned from the House effective June 11.

The lawsuit filed Friday said DeSantis has quickly called special elections in some instances but waited long periods to call them in other instances. As an example, DeSantis waited about a month to call a special election after the 2021 death of longtime Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings.

The lawsuit contends that DeSantis has a “clear legal duty to fix the dates of the special election” in the Miami-Dade House district.

“When a vacancy arises in legislative office, the people have the right to fill that vacancy in a special election,” the lawsuit said. “The reason is obvious: No Floridian should be deprived of representation because of the death, resignation or removal of their representatives.”