A Brevard County judge’s recent decision to retire just days before his term would otherwise end has resulted in the the cancellation of the upcoming election for the seat.
One of the former candidates for that seat has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis, claiming that he is using routine days-long gap between the judge’s retirement and the official end of his term to cancel the election of the judge’s replacement and instead choose a new judge himself.
On April 15, county court Judge Benjamin Garagozlo wrote a letter announcing that he would retire at the end of the year, only days before a newly elected judge would take over his seat following this August’s elections.
Because Garagozlo is leaving before the end of his term, state law allows for the governor, who himself would be in the final days of his term, to appoint a replacement to serve out the remaining days of his term and to continue to serve until the next election after that, which would not be until 2028.
Because of that, DeSantis has indicated that he will name a replacement for Garagozlo and the election for the seat has been cancelled.
A spokeswoman for the court said judges routinely retire at the end of calendar years for administrative reasons and that she was unaware of any past elections being cancelled because of it.
There are at least two other similar cases elsewhere in the state.
Brevard judicial candidate is suing Gov. Ron DeSantis
Andrea Fant and Margaret “Maggie” Wagner have spent the last year raising money and building campaigns based on the expectation of Garagozlo’s retirement at the end of his term.
Wagner has now filed a lawsuit against Gov. DeSantis, Secretary of State Cord Byrd, and Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic, saying that the governor’s authority was wrongfully used to “supplant” an election.
The lawsuit says that last year the governor’s office asked the state courts to share copies of any resignation or retirement letters, apparently in an attempt to find cases like Garagozlo’s.
“The Governor’s Office did not contact Judge Garagozlo to confirm whether he intended to resign, to clarify the nature of his letter, or to afford him any opportunity to withdraw it before it was used to cancel a scheduled election,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit describes a situation in which the governor’s office mischaracterized a retirement as a resignation and wrongfully cancelled the election all because Garagozlo would be leaving office on Dec. 31, 2026 rather than his last day in office, which would have been Jan. 5, 2027, the same day that DeSantis himself will leave office due to term limits
“By obtaining Judge Garagozlo’s retirement letter through administrative channels and unilaterally recharacterizing it as a resignation, not a retirement, mere business hours before the qualifying period opened, the Governor manufactured a constitutional vacancy that foreclosed the scheduled election and converted the seat from one filled by election of the voters to one filled by gubernatorial appointment,” the lawsuit goes on.
Fant meanwhile has reorganized her camp and filed to run for Circuit Court Judge, where she faces George Cole Gaspard and Angela Strum for the bench and has not joined in suing.
“It’s upsetting on a lot of fronts. How could you take an entire election from the people and deprive them on the opportunity to vote on it?” she said. “On top of that, a lot of time and resources have been put into this race.”
According to Fant, the issue comes down to a lapse in the system of checks and balances.
“If it was a mistake, I would think we would have safeguards in place to prevent something like this. The consequences are huge. I would think at this level, we would a review process so that it wouldn’t get the point that on the business day before qualifying, you’re cancelling an election,” she added.
Retiring judge did not intend to cancel election
Michelle Kennedy, a spokesperson for the Eighteenth Judicial Court, said it was not Garagozlo’s intention to cancel an election when he sent his retirement letter.
“In the past, this has never been a catalyst for going to the appointment process,” Kennedy said. “It was not his intention to have his retirement letter treated as a resignation letter to thwart the electoral process.”
The majority of judges retire on Dec. 31 for administrative reasons and it has never caused an issue before, Kennedy added.
Both former candidates Andrea Fant and Maggie Wagner currently serve as attorneys with the Brevard County Public Defender’s Office. Blaise Trettis, the elected leader who heads the office, said something needs to change to prevent this from happening in the future.
“There needs to be a change so that there is not communication or coordination between the Governor’s office and the Florida Supreme Court when it comes to retirement of judges,” Trettis said.
“Resignations that lead to appointment by the governor need to go to the governor and the governor only and retirements that don’t require appointments should be handled by the courts. That would solve the problem,” he added.
Not an isolated incident
The cancellation of one judicial race in Brevard County is only one of several similar incidents to happen around the state in recent weeks.
In mid-April, Leon Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey submitted her resignation letter to the Governor’s Office, a step that closed the door on her 2026 reelection campaign – a move similar to what happened days later in Brevard County.
Dempsey’s resignation will be effective Dec. 28 of this year, only days apart from Garagozlo’s. The key difference is that Dempsey used the word resignation in her official letter, whereas Garagozlo only referred to his departure as a retirement, according to reporting from the Tallahassee Democrat.
The Orlando Sentinel reported another similar situation in the Ninth Circuit Court, where DeSantis chose County Judges Andrew Bain and Mark A. Skipper to fill two vacancies left by the resignations of Judges Elizabeth J. Gibson and Robert J. Egan.The April 16 appointments came four days before the candidate qualifying period opened up and led to the cancellation of two elections. DeSantis himself created two vacancies on the county court by promoting the judges to fill vacancies on the Ninth Circuit Court. Under Florida statute, DeSantis was then required to fill those seats days before the qualifying period began for the election, which was subsequently cancelled.
University of Central Florida poltical science professor Aubrey Jewett said these types of appointments allow the governor to do two things: cement political power and strengthen his legacy.
“For county and circuit courts in Florida, I always teach that the prescribed mode of selection is for non-partisan election. That is true as far as it goes, but the Florida Constitution also gives the governor the power to make interim appointments. That’s where it gets a little fuzzy,” he said.
“Theoretically, an appointed judge can be in office for a long time. It allows the governor to choose someone they want rather than let the voters choose. Even in Republican-leaning areas, the governor might prefer someone else. Where it really gets interesting is if your county has a fair number of Democrats. It allows the governor to appoint one of his allies,” he added.
Although the rules in the Florida Constitution are designed to prevent long-term vacancies they can also be used to for other purposes.
“It allows the governor to have a longer lasting impact on Florida politics and policy after he’s gone. It’ll certain be one of his legacies that he got to appoint six out of seven Supreme Court judges and a bunch of county and circuit court judges got their start from Gov. DeSantis,” Jewett added.
“Every time the governor does this, it’s another more conservative, Federalist Society judge on the bench rather than someone more moderate or even progressive that might be representative of the voters in the area.”
Tyler Vazquez is the Growth and Development Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard judge’s retirement cancels election, provokes suit against DeSantis
Reporting by Tyler Vazquez, Florida Today / Florida Today
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