Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., will leave Congress to focus on his campaign for Florida governor before the upcoming midterm elections, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Crist, who won the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary last week, had previously come under fire for his frequent use of the House’s proxy voting rule that was put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed him to campaign in Florida while having a colleague cast a vote on his behalf.
Crist said in a statement that his resignation will take effect at the end of Wednesday, and that his time representing the state’s 13th Congressional District was "an honor and a privilege."
Crist said, "these achievements start and end with you, the people — my bosses — who have guided my work in Congress since Day One."
Florida Politics notes that Gov. Ron DeSantis also resigned from Congress after winning his party's nomination for governor in 2018.
Crist served as governor of Florida from 2007-11 as a Republican. He switched parties the year after he left office and was later elected to the House as a Democrat in 2016. His departure will leave Democrats with 219 members in the lower chamber, just eight more than the GOP at 211.