Although the General Election just wrapped up, more elections are in the works here in Florida.
Special elections will be held to replace the people President-elect Donald Trump has nominated to fill his cabinet seats. However, those elections will end up being costly for taxpayers.
The appointments will be costly. Voters just elected Byron Donalds. If Trump appoints him to the Cabinet, another election to fill the District 19 seat would be required by law. That could cost taxpayers as much as $5 million in Lee and Collier counties — and that's just for one race.
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz was just elected but resigned and is now nominated to become Trump's attorney general pick.
Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida was also just elected, and Trump picked him as national security adviser.
Donalds was handily just elected to represent District 19 and could be considered for a seat at the table with Trump.
“There are a lot of folks within the Florida legislature that would be looking for appointments,” said Republican political consultant Terry Miller.
Many state lawmakers would also likely run for the empty seats created by Trump.
Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from the Orlando area, said it creates a ripple effect.
“It leads to a ripple effect where other elected officials will likely run for those special elections, which will then trigger more special elections,” Eskamani said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he is calling for immediate special elections.
A special election in Lee and Collier counties for a congressional race could cost as much as $5 million.
“There would be a primary and a general election, probably. So, you're looking at $2 million per election and two elections would be about $4 million,” said Lee County Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle.
Collier County Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Trish Robertson said a special election would cost her county about $800,000.
Gaetz and Waltz races would likely cost even more.
Doing the math, these appointments could potentially end up costing Florida taxpayers statewide hundreds of millions of dollars.