Former governor and current Rep. Charlie Crist is resigning from Congress effective Wednesday amid his gubernatorial bid against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In a statement, Crist said that while staff representing the district will continue constituent services until Crist's replacement is sworn in early next year, he won't finish out the rest of his term.
Crist won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination last week over Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. While the statement doesn't specifically mention his gubernatorial bid, the decision to resign his seat in Congress in the midst of a competitive race is similar to the decision made by DeSantis in 2018, when he decided to leave Congress shortly after he clinched his party's gubernatorial nomination.
Candidates in Florida can't run for two offices at once, so Crist had already announced he wasn't running for re-election.
Republican Anna Paulina Luna and Democrat Eric Lynn are running in the general election to represent the area (the district lines have shifted for this upcoming election thanks to redistricting).
Crist's resignation narrows the Democratic majority in the House to 219 members, compared to the GOP's 211 members (five seats will be vacant, but New York Democrat Pat Ryan is set to be sworn in soon after winning a special election this month).
