Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Democrat lawmaker David Trone have partnered to call for congressional term limits.
"A government shutdown grips Washington, leaving Americans frustrated once again with partisan squabbling," DeSantis and Trone wrote in a piece for The New York Times published Wednesday.
"The endless stalemates and inability to find common ground are reflective of a deeper problem: The House and the Senate are dominated by career politicians, buoyed by re-election rates that routinely exceed 90 percent, who seem more concerned with clinging to power than serving the public," they added.
"In that spirit, the two of us — one a Republican and one a Democrat — will be the co-chairs of a national campaign with the organization U.S. Term Limits aimed at restoring accountability, competition and common sense on Capitol Hill."
U.S. Term Limits is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. It describes its mission as aiming to "enact term limits on all elected officials, especially the U.S. Congress."
U.S. senators serve six-year terms and can be reelected indefinitely. U.S. representatives serve two-year terms and can also serve unlimited terms as long as they keep winning reelection.
Term limits would require a constitutional amendment, which has been proposed many times but never adopted.
Trone, who represented Maryland's 6th Congressional District from 2019 to January 2025, and DeSantis, who represented Florida's 6th Congressional District from 2013 to 2018, said Congress is too often a "self-serving closed club of political insiders."
"Some people see redistricting reform as a fix for what ails Washington. However, such reforms would do little to curb the advantages incumbents enjoy in primaries and safe districts, nor would they dismantle the seniority system that stifles innovation in Congress," the pair wrote. "Redrawing district boundaries would not erase things like name recognition and fund-raising advantages that allow incumbents to cling to power."
They suggested states "take matters into their own hands" through an Article V amendment-writing convention should Congress "refuse to act."
"This mechanism seems tailor-made for this scenario. It allows states to propose an amendment when Washington will not. Twelve states have already passed "single-subject" resolutions calling for term limits, more than a third of the way toward the 34 states necessary for that process to move forward, and nearly a quarter of the way toward the 38 states needed to ratify an amendment," they said.
"Neither approach would be easy, but the threat of a convention would almost certainly compel Congress to pass an amendment, making the arduous trek down either path critical to creating a more representative government. At a time when the country feels increasingly divided, this effort at reform would bring people together."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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