Editorial: State wrong to block Debbie Mayfield's Senate bid
Voters in Florida Senate District 19 should have the opportunity to put Debbie Mayfield back into the Senate seat she held until last November. It seems so cut-and-dried that it would be unimaginable for the Supreme Court to say they can't. But it just might.
The court's chief architect, Gov. Ron DeSantis, appointed Secretary of State Cord Byrd, who as overseer of the state elections systems has often been eager to carry out DeSantis' will. It's entirely possible that the governor ordered Byrd to block the veteran Republican lawmaker from running, so she wants the state's high court to intervene.
This seat has been the focus of an intricate political minuet. Mayfield, 68, from Melbourne, was forced to leave her Brevard-based Senate seat in November due to term limits, so she ran for an open state House seat. The District 17 Senate seat was claimed by Sen. Randy Fine, but Fine decided to run for the U.S. House District 6 seat vacated when U.S. Rep Mike Waltz was tapped by Donald Trump as national security adviser.
Fine's brief occupancy of the state Senate seat should make all the difference for Mayfield.
With her old seat suddenly open, Mayfield filed to run, but in rejecting her papers, the state seriously misreads the intent of the voter-approved 'Eight is Enough' amendment.
The Supreme Court can be timid where DeSantis is involved, so it could punt and refuse jurisdiction, as requested by Byrd. In a court filing, state lawyers say Mayfield is seeking 'the wrong relief in the wrong forum.' But there is literally nowhere else to seek a remedy, and a plain-language reading of Florida statutes suggests that her half-year out of office is enough to restart the clock on her incumbency. Ducking her case by refusing to hear it would be a shameful cop-out — a denial of Mayfield's due process and voters' right to choose their own representation. There's a good chance they will choose her: in her last District 17 primary, she easily defeated Dr. Dave Weldon, another well-known former lawmaker.
The special primary is April 1, making it impractical for Mayfield to slog through lower courts. The clock is ticking: Today, Feb. 14, is the deadline to mail military and overseas ballots.
Byrd accuses Mayfield of trying to illegally stretch eight years in the Senate to 12 in violation of the eight-year term limit provision. But the key word is consecutive years. Fine's interim term breaks that consecutive streak.
A vacancy is a vacancy, period. The state never objected when other term-limited legislators returned to their old seats after a hiatus.
For example, Republican Sen. Don Gaetz of Niceville reclaimed his old seat in November after an eight-year hiatus. Just weeks after Broward Democrat Lauren Book was termed out of the Senate in November, she filed to run for senator again in 2028. That's legal. So why target Mayfield?
Mayfield suspects she's being punished for supporting Donald Trump for president when DeSantis was running against him last year and was strong-arming state legislators for endorsements. Mayfield was one of the few who wouldn't bend to the governor's will.
'He has weaponized the Department of State just like Biden weaponized the Department of Justice against President Trump,' Mayfield said. 'The law is on my side.'
DeSantis has not responded, but he's known for vindictiveness.
Byrd's response to her lawsuit makes an issue of Mayfield having 'a career in state government' because she served eight years in the House before eight in the Senate. That's beside the point. Many other prominent legislators have done the same — DeSantis himself racked up three terms in Congress before filing to run for governor, and now there's talk of his wife, Casey, stepping into his boots to run in 2026 when DeSantis is term-limited out. If DeSantis is so enamored of the concept of term limits, he should make it clear that two four-year terms applies to the Governor's Mansion as well as the spacious chief executive's offices in the Capitol building.
A better bet would be to abolish or expand the amount of time lawmakers are allowed to serve. Term limits have stripped the Florida Legislature of institutional knowledge, amplifying the influence of lobbyists and forcing members in a revolving-door Capitol to kowtow to increasingly powerful and secretive presiding officers. They ought to be repealed. Failing that, term limits should be amended to allow 16 years consecutive service in either house, with no lifetime ban. A proposed constitutional amendment filed for the upcoming session (SJR 536) would limit all legislators' total service to 16 years. If it passes, it will be on the statewide ballot in 2026.
In Mayfield's case, whether the interval is a few months or a few years should make no difference.
The precise language of the Constitution should matter above all to justices, who often profess 'textualism' in decision-making. Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz has even taught the subject at the FSU's College of Law.
Besides, there's precedent. In 2015, a disputed election caused then-Rep. James Grant of Tampa to have a five-month break in service. When Grant faced a term-limit challenge in 2018, Secretary of State Ken Detzner said he had no authority to disqualify Grant.
Detzner said that as written, the term limit provision (Article VI, Section 4) was 'clear and unambiguous.'
Byrd's lawyers say they are not bound by Detzner's opinion.
The Mayfield matter shows that Florida needs an independent authority over elections rather than someone under the governor's thumb or political party. Only five other states give their governors direct control of elections.
Under Scott and DeSantis, the state launched spurious voter purges that came up dry. Byrd catered to right-wing Republican politics by removing Florida from ERIC, a valuable national cooperative among states to reduce duplicate registrations. It's an invaluable tool for election integrity that is supposedly a Republican priority.
Elections are the essence of democracy. Florida should protect them and put the process under a board built for independence with two members appointed by the governor, two chosen by the largest party in the Legislature that's not the governor's party, and a fifth, non-aligned member selected by the other four.
Debbie Mayfield's predicament provides compelling evidence. Let her run — and let voters decide.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.
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