Florida state Rep. James Grant (R) ended his re-election campaign for his District 64 seat on August 12, resigning from the state legislature in order to take a position as the state’s chief information officer. Grant was first elected to represent the district in 2012, having previously represented District 47 in the 2011-2012 legislative session.
Grant’s departure leaves a vacancy on the November 3 general election ballot. The Republican and Democratic primaries for the seat were canceled when no challengers filed to run against Grant in the Republican primary and only one candidate, middle school teacher Jessica Harrington, filed to run in the Democratic race. Republican Party committee officials in the district will nominate a replacement candidate to run against Harrington in the general election.
Grant said that he would assume the chief information officer role two weeks from his announcement. The position was first filled in 2014 when the state legislature created the Agency for State Technology. The state executive role moved to the Department of Management Services under current Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).