Florida Democrats want confirmation hearings now for DeSantis’ choice to run elections
Florida’s Senate Democrats are calling for confirmation hearings next week for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new elections chief, incoming Secretary of State Cord Byrd. With lawmakers meeting in Tallahassee on Monday for a special session on the state’s propertyinsurance crisis, Democrats said they would have “more than enough time” to hold confirmation hearings.
DeSantis last week named Byrd, a Republican state representative from Neptune Beach, as secretary of state after his predecessor, Laurel Lee, announced she was leaving.
The choice is subject to confirmation by the Senate. With the pivotal midterm elections later this year, next week’s legislative session is likely the only chance that senators will have to hold those hearings before the election.
“We believe, and hope you agree, that it would be highly inappropriate for the new secretary to preside over an election without the opportunity to be questioned under oath and fully vetted before the public,” they wrote to Senate President Wilton Simpson, RTrilby, on Tuesday.
Spokespeople for Simpson and DeSantis did not immediately return requests for comments about the request.
DeSantis’ decision to choose Byrd sparked denunciation by Democratic lawmakers, who have clashed with Byrd personally and over some of the controversial legislation that he has sponsored in recent years.
“This may be DeSantis’ most frightening appointment to date,” state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, tweeted last week.
State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, released a statement after DeSantis announced he was choosing Byrd for secretary of state, saying the idea that Byrd would be in charge of a first-of-its-kind elections police force “should be a frightening thought for every Floridian, no matter who you are or where you come from.”
When a protest in the House gallery broke out during a debate over a bill limiting abortions to 15 weeks of pregnancy, Byrd turned around and cursed out many Black Democrats. Nixon later called him a
“racist.”
DeSantis called Byrd an “ally of freedom and democracy in the Florida Legislature” who will ensure “Florida’s elections remain safe, secure and well-administered.”
Byrd has sponsored some of DeSantis’ top priorities, including 2019 legislation banning “sanctuary cities,” a 2020 bill requiring that
some employers check the immigration status of new workers and broad antirioting legislation in 2021.
He also bucked his own party’s leadership in the Legislature to side with DeSantis’ proposal to redraw the state’s congressional map, which would eliminate two districts represented by Black Democrats.