The resignation from Congress frees Crist to focus on his race against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. In 2018, DeSantis also resigned his House seat shortly after securing the GOP nomination.
Crist’s departure further reduces the Democratic majority in the House to 219 to 211, with five seats remaining vacant.
Crist was first elected to represent Florida’s 13th District, including his hometown of St. Petersburg, in 2016 after a close and expensive race against then-Rep. David Jolly, Republican. He was re-elected in 2018 and 2020 with strong majorities.
Crist’s time in the U.S. House marked a return to elected office for the longtime Florida politician after losing state races for U.S. Senate in 2010 as an independent and for governor as a Democrat in 2014. He previously served as a Republican state legislator, attorney general and governor.
Crist announced in May 2021 that he would forego a campaign for a fourth term and instead set his sights on returning to the governor’s mansion. At the time, Crist appeared to be giving up a safely Democratic seat, but the 13th District was dramatically changed during the redistricting process into one that former President Donald Trump would have carried by 7 points in 2020.
Republican Anna Paulina Luna, a conservative commentator, and Democrat Eric Lynn, a former senior defense adviser in the Obama administration, were nominated on August 23 by their respective parties to succeed Crist in Congress.
This story is breaking and has been updated.