Senator Martinez Resigns Early
By
DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: August 7, 2009
WASHINGTON — Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida, abruptly announced his resignation on Friday, saying he would step down as soon as Gov.
Charlie Crist named a replacement, presumably before Congress returns from its summer recess after
Labor Day.
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Mr. Martinez, a former secretary of housing and urban development under President
George W. Bush and former chairman of the
Republican National Committee, had said last year that he would not seek a second term in 2010, and would retire from public life.
But as the Senate left Washington for the monthlong recess, Mr. Martinez stunned his colleagues by announcing his imminent departure, first in a letter to supporters on Friday morning and then at a news conference at an airport in Orlando, his hometown, in the afternoon.
Mr. Crist, a Republican who announced in May that he would run for Mr. Martinez’s seat, is now in the awkward position of selecting a temporary replacement to finish Mr. Martinez’s term. At a news conference in Tallahassee on Friday, Mr. Crist said that the search for a replacement would begin immediately and that he would not appoint himself.
Mr. Martinez said he was in good health and was resigning to return to private life and spend time with his family.
“This is of my own free will,” Mr. Martinez said, his wife, son and daughter standing behind him at the airport news conference. “There is no impending reason, only my desire to move on and get on with the rest of my life.”
Mr. Martinez would not comment on who Mr. Crist might choose to replace him, saying he was leaving the matter to the governor.
“I think he’s prepared to discuss a transparent and good process,” Mr. Martinez said. “I leave that in his hands.”
Florida political leaders said potential Republican successors could include former Senator Connie Mack and former Representative
E. Clay Shaw, who served eight terms in the House, representing Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, before being defeated in 2006 by Ron Klein, a Democrat.
Mr. Mack told local news outlets Friday that he was not interested in the job.
The chairwoman of the state
Democratic Party, Karen L. Thurman, called on Mr. Crist to appoint an “independent caretaker.”
The top Democratic candidate seeking Mr. Martinez’s seat is Representative Kendrick B. Meek.
For the Republican nomination, Mr. Crist is being challenged by a former Florida House Speaker, Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American from Miami, who is politically more conservative than the governor. Mr. Rubio quickly issued a statement calling on Mr. Crist to name a conservative replacement for Mr. Martinez.
Mr. Crist has come under criticism by Mr. Rubio and other Florida conservatives because of his strong endorsement of
President Obama’s
stimulus plan, which Mr. Martinez voted against in the Senate.
Mr. Crist, however, enjoys substantially better name recognition than the other candidates and a far bigger war chest heading into next year’s campaign.
He raised $4.3 million toward a Senate run in fewer than three months, while Mr. Rubio raised just $340,000, according to campaign finance disclosures.
On Thursday, in what turned out to be one of his last big votes in the Senate, Mr. Martinez broke with the
Republican Party establishment by voting to confirm Judge
Sonia Sotomayor to the
United States Supreme Court.
In doing so, Mr. Martinez, 62, a native of Cuba who came to the United States when he was 15 to escape the Castro regime, noted the historic significance of Judge Sotomayor’s becoming the first Hispanic on the nation’s highest court.
Another Cut and Run Republican
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