Judge says Anthony Sabatini must resign his current office to run in CD 11

A federal Judge says Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini must resign his current office to run for Congress this year.

U.S District Judge Mark Walker denied an injunction requested by the Mount Dora Republican, who filed a federal lawsuit in May asking to toss portions of Florida’s resign-to-run law. But Walker said Sabatini has to follow the law like everyone else.

“This Court is not persuaded that the sole purpose of this resign-to-run law is to create an additional qualification to run for Congress,” Walker wrote in an order. “In short, this Court is not persuaded that Plaintiff has demonstrated that he is substantially likely to succeed on the merits.”

Sabatini has argued that the law, which requires he submit an irrevocable resignation from his County Commission seat to run for higher office, effectively imposes an additional requirement on federal candidates for office.

“The United States Constitution sets the exclusive qualifications for Members of the United States House of Representatives: age, citizenship, and inhabitancy,” reads a legal complaint Sabatini filed. Sabatini, a lawyer, is representing himself.

But Walker said courts have already ruled on when, and if, states can impose election restrictions and have already determined Florida’s resign-to-run law does not run afoul of the Constitution.

He pointed to a landmark 1995 ruling in U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton, which determined in a 5-4 ruling that states cannot impose term limits on members of Congress. But the ruling also made clear that state election laws should only be tossed if a statute causes the “likely effect of handicapping a class of candidates and has the sole purpose of creating additional qualifications indirectly.”

Walker rules that while the law does handicap officeholders in one sense, the rule wasn’t enacted purely to hurt candidates.

Sabatini announced in April he would run to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Dan Webster in Florida’s 11th Congressional District. He had challenged Webster in 2024 but dropped out in June to instead run for Lake County Commission. He ultimately unseated incumbent Lake County Commissioner Doug Shields in a GOP Primary and started a four-year term in November.

But with Webster retiring, Sabatini wants to make a run for a now-open seat in CD 11, but doesn’t want to give up the seat if he loses the race. If Sabatini submits a resignation, he can set its effective date for any point until the beginning of the term in Congress he seeks. But if he refuses to resign before qualifying, he would have to resign effective immediately.

Importantly, the deadline to resign to run was May 29. The deadline for congressional candidates to qualify is June 12 at noon.

Seven Republican candidates have opened federal campaign accounts since Webster announced his retirement. Republican candidates besides Sabatini currently include Steve Farley, Antonette Harmon, Ivette Palomo, Nizam Razack, Tim Wilkins and Michael Wilnau. Four Democrats and a Libertarian have also filed.