On Jan. 10, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stood on a debate stage in Iowa, Floridians were dealing with the aftermath of severe weather that included 55-mph winds, hail and tornadoes.
His physical presence in Iowa, hundreds of miles away from Florida residents dealing with the aftermath of the storm, prompted criticism from democrats.
“There are Floridians without homes tonight. Ron is in Iowa,” a Jan. 9 X post from the Florida Democratic Party said.
One X user retweeted the post, writing: “This is exactly why, in most states, the Governor is required to step down when beginning a Presidential campaign.” Their post garnered 1.1 million views.
THE QUESTION
Is the governor required to resign before running for president in most states?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the governor is not required to resign before running for president in most states.
WHAT WE FOUND
There are five states – Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Texas and Hawaii – that have rules known as resign-to-run laws. These laws set restrictions on elected officials who choose to run for a different office.
Each of those states’ resign-to-run laws work differently. For example, in Florida, a governor doesn’t have to resign office if they are running for president or vice president, but would have to resign if they ran for any other seat, like the Senate.
Florida’s resign-to-run law changed on May 24, 2023 when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida Senate Bill 7050 into law. SB 7050 made a number of changes to Florida election law and included the change to the resign-to-run rule to allow a sitting governor to run for president or vice president without resigning.
May 24, 2023 is the same day DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign. Prior to May 24, 2023, any governor in the state of Florida would have had to resign in order to run for president.
VERIFY reached out to DeSantis’ office for comment and did not hear back at the time of publication.
Georgia’s state constitution says officers must resign from office in order to be qualified to be a candidate for any other elected state, county, or municipal office or in the House and Senate.
In Hawaii, its constitution and the Hawaii's State Legislature says a sitting governor of Hawaii could not run for president if they would take office before their term as governor had ended.
The Texas State Constitution says in any general, special or primary election, an elected official would have to resign, but it only applies to certain local offices. The governor is not on this list, so a sitting governor in Texas could run for president without resigning.
Arizona’s election law says elected officials do have to resign from their office if they have filed formal paperwork announcing their intention to run for another local, state or federal office and are also not in the final year of their term.
No other states have specific resign-to-run laws, VERIFY found. For example, in Colorado there is no mention of a resignation requirement for elected officials to run for another office in the state constitution.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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