- February 11, 2025
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TALLAHASSEE — State elections officials Monday urged the Florida Supreme Court to reject an attempt by Rep. Debbie Mayfield to run for a Senate seat, saying she is ineligible because of term limits and that Secretary of State Cord Byrd had the authority to keep her off a special-election ballot.
Lawyers for Byrd and Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews filed a 31-page response after Mayfield, R-Melbourne, went to the Supreme Court last week to challenge a decision by elections officials to prevent her from running in Brevard County’s Senate District 19.
The case centers on the state’s term-limits law and how it applies to Mayfield, who is trying to return to a Senate seat she left in November after serving eight years. In a petition filed last week, Mayfield argued, in part, that she is eligible to run in the special election and that the elections officials overstepped their “ministerial” authority in keeping her off the ballot.
But lawyers for the elections officials contended that Mayfield is “constitutionally ineligible” and that Byrd, the state’s chief elections officer, was not required to “suspend common sense or common knowledge” to qualify her for the ballot.
“It’s for much the same reason that the secretary can’t certify the King of England (a non-U.S. citizen) or a notorious serial killer (a convicted felon) for inclusion on a ballot with the hope that a political opponent (if there is one) will file a challenge,” the response said.
Lawyers for Byrd and Matthews also argued that Mayfield should have filed the case in circuit court, rather than going straight to the Supreme Court. They also said she could have sought an advisory opinion from the secretary of state before trying to qualify.
“In this case, there’s no clear and certain right for petitioner (Mayfield) to be placed on a ballot so she can run for re-election to an office she held for the preceding eight years,” the response said. “Petitioner simply attempts to create such a right to avoid term limits. And, again, petitioner could have sought declaratory and injunctive relief in circuit court to create or secure this new right. She could have also sought an advisory opinion on her eligibility from the secretary … as others have before submitting their qualifying paperwork. She chose not to do either.”
But in last week’s petition, Mayfield’s attorneys disputed elections officials’ interpretation of the term-limits law and said such eligibility questions could only be resolved in lawsuits.
“Mayfield has duly and timely submitted to the secretary the applicable qualifying fee and all documents necessary to qualify as a Republican candidate for the SD 19 special election,” the petition said. “Accordingly, because the qualifying paperwork is complete on its face and was properly filed, the secretary is legally bound to accept it and recognize Mayfield as a qualified candidate for the SD 19 special election. This is because it is well-settled that the secretary serves a purely ministerial role in processing the qualifying paperwork, and has no authority to determine whether the qualifying paperwork is accurate, or whether there are grounds to challenge Mayfield’s eligibility to run in the special election for SD 19.”
The qualifying period for candidates in Senate District 19 ended at noon Tuesday, Feb. 4. A special primary election is scheduled April 1, with a special general election on June 10.
Mayfield’s attorneys argued for emergency action by the Supreme Court because vote-by-mail ballots for the primary election are required to start going to military and overseas voters by the end of this week, according to the petition.
Mayfield was elected in House District 32 in November after she could not run again for the Senate because of eight-year term limits included in the Florida Constitution.
Brevard County Republican Randy Fine, a former state House member, was elected in November to succeed Mayfield in Senate District 19. But Fine subsequently submitted his resignation to run in a special election for a congressional seat that opened when former U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., was named as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.
Mayfield decided to run to return to the Senate and submitted her resignation from the House, effective June 9.
After the qualifying period for the Senate special election ended, Matthews on Wednesday wrote a memo to Mayfield that said, “Upon review and consultation with counsel regarding your candidacy for state Senate District 19, the Division of Elections has determined that your name cannot appear on the special election ballot, as it violates article VI, section 4 of the Florida Constitution.”
That part of the Constitution says, “No person may appear on the ballot for re-election” to offices such as senator “if, by the end of the current term of office, the person will have served (or, but for resignation, would have served) in that office for eight consecutive years.”
While Mayfield left the Senate in November after eight consecutive years, her Supreme Court petition contended that she can run in the special election because she is not seeking “re-election.”
“Simply stated … Mayfield is not seeking to appear on the special election ballot ‘for re-election’ to an office she has held for eight consecutive years,” the petition said. “Indeed, Mayfield was already elected, in 2024, to a different office (i.e., the Florida House), and Senator Fine was elected, in 2024, to SD 19, prior to his resignation from that office. As such, based on the plain wording of Section 4 (of the Constitution), Mayfield is not precluded from running anew for SD 19.”
But in the response Monday, attorneys for Byrd and Matthews disputed that interpretation of “re-election.” They wrote that Mayfield is “running for the very same (Senate) seat — she wishes to be re-elected to that seat.” They also cited President Donald Trump returning to the White House last month after a four-year hiatus because of losing the 2020 election to now-former President Joe Biden..
“‘Re-election’ doesn’t hinge on incumbency,” the response said. “An incumbent can be re-elected, but so too can a previous officeholder. President Trump, for example, was re-elected to the office he previously held despite President Biden being the incumbent. Petitioner similarly seeks re-election to the office she held from 2016 to 2024.
Mayfield’s petition asked the Supreme Court to determine that the elections officials exceeded their authority and to ensure that she appears on the special-election ballot.
Three other Republicans — Marcie Adkins, Mark Lightner III and Tim Thomas — and Democrat Vance Ahrens qualified to run in the Senate special election, according to the state Division of Elections website. Candidates also qualified last week for a special election to succeed Mayfield in House District 32.
Mayfield last week accused Gov. Ron DeSantis of orchestrating the decision to keep her off the ballot. The Department of State and its Division of Elections are part of DeSantis’ administration. Mayfield supported Trump over DeSantis in last year’s Republican presidential primary election.
