U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist resigned from Congress on Wednesday as he runs for governor against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this fall.
The Democrat from St. Petersburg had been in House since his election in 2016. His statement did not say why he was resigning, but that it was effective Wednesday.
“I could not be prouder of the work we’ve done,” Crist said.
His seat, which was redrawn by DeSantis and the GOP-led Legislature to become more favorable to Republicans, will remain vacant until January. Crist said his staff would continue to provide constituent services until then.
Crist’s decision to leave Congress before the end of his term echoes DeSantis, who resigned early from Congress in September 2018 to run full time for governor.
In a statement, RNC spokeswoman Julia Friedland said Crist, a former GOP governor who also ran for U.S. Senate as an independent and previously for governor as a Democrat, “treats taxpayer-funded jobs like a game of musical chairs.”
Crist has been criticized for his use of proxy voting this year, a COVID-era procedure that allows Congress members to vote without being in Washington.
Crist was near the top of an April list of members who had cast the most proxy votes with 107, according to Politico. He was attacked by his opponent in the Democratic primary, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, as having “a history of not showing up for his job.”
DeSantis, who according to GovTrack missed more than half of all votes between July and September 2018 before proxy voting went into effect, said at the time he was resigning because he would likely miss even more votes as the campaign went on.
DeSantis’ seat also remained vacant until the following January, when U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-St. Augustine Beach, was sworn in.
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