Gov. DeSantis sets dates for Florida House special elections

ORLANDO, Fla. - Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday scheduled special elections to fill two vacant House seats in Miami-Dade County and the Orlando area. 

One of the special elections will be held in House District 35, which opened when former Rep. Fred Hawkins, R-St. Cloud was named president of South Florida State College. 

The other special election will be held in Miami-Dade’s House District 118, which opened last month when DeSantis appointed former Rep. Juan Alfonso Fernandez-Barquin, a Republican, to serve as Miami-Dade clerk of court and comptroller. 

DeSantis scheduled a primary election in District 118 on Oct. 3 and a special general election, if needed, on Dec. 5. He scheduled a primary in District 35 on Nov. 7 and a special general election, if needed, on Jan. 16. 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 Jan. 9. 

DeSantis issued executive orders Wednesday scheduling the elections. That came after a Miami-Dade voter, represented by attorneys from the ACLU Foundation of Florida, filed a lawsuit last week in Leon County circuit court seeking to force him to call a special election in District 118. 

The lawsuit alleged that DeSantis had improperly delayed calling the election. It did not address District 35, which is made up of parts of Orange and Osceola counties.