According to the Resign to Run law<\/a>, all candidates for federal office who are already state or local officials are supposed to submit a letter of resignation 10 days before the start of the candidate qualifying period (which, again, is June 8). <\/p>\nThat doesn\u2019t mean Sabatini would have to resign immediately, though. He can choose to make his official resignation date the day he takes his seat in the U.S. House, or the day his replacement in the Lake County Commission is due to take office.<\/p>\n
However, if no resignation letter is submitted by the end of the candidate qualifying period, it, according to the law, \u201cconstitutes an automatic irrevocable resignation, effective immediately, from the office he or she presently holds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The law says the Department of State will send the notice of automatic resignation to the governor. <\/p>\n
Either way, once the resignation takes effect, the governor is the one who appoints Sabatini\u2019s replacement to serve on the Lake County Commission until 2028.<\/p>\n
What Sabatini says<\/p>\n
Sabatini was elected to the District 1 seat on the Lake County Commission in 2024, and his term is not up until 2028.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s running to replace retiring Congressman Dan Webster in U.S. House District 11. But first, he has to get through a Republican primary in August with five other GOP candidates.<\/p>\n
Sabatini feels that, should he lose in August or in November, he should be able to continue serving on the commission until the end of his term. The law prevents that from happening.<\/p>\n
His lawsuit calls the Resign to Run law \u201can impermissible scheme to impose an additional qualification on a candidate for the United States House of Representatives.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States Constitution sets the exclusive qualifications for Members of the United States House of Representatives: age, citizenship, and inhabitancy…. A state may not add to, subtract from, evade, or indirectly supplement those qualifications by imposing a state-law prerequisite to federal congressional candidacy,\u201d the lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n
Sabatini\u2019s amended injunction request said the law forces him to decide whether to give up his current elected office or give up his Congressional run. He says that choice is a potential barrier to his candidacy.<\/p>\n
Sabatini told News 6 he is confident his amended injunction request will be granted. <\/p>\n
However, even if it\u2019s not, he questions whether the state can actually force him to resign.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see what the state does after qualifying ends.<\/p>\n
[READ the amended complaint]<\/p>\n
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