Florida is Sick of Sore Losers

When a political candidate fails to win his or her party’s primary election, it seems fair to assume that they will not take part in the general election – they should cede to the winner, allowing them to receive their party’s nomination. This is what any gracious loser would do, but if we know anything about politicians, we know that they are not all gracious in defeat, and they will usually do everything in their power to be able to claim victory in the general election. Sometimes this means taking a dire political risk – breaking away from political parties completely.

The Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee is now calling for laws that will crack down on these defections. Unofficially dubbed the “sore-loser statute”, these new regulations would attempt to prevent candidates who lose their party’s primary from switching parties and re-entering the race as independents. This move was triggered by the current Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, who is currently running for the U.S. Senate.

The committee cited Mr. Crist's change in party status as an impetus for its report. The governor, who in April was trailing Marco Rubio by more than 20 percentage points in polls in the Republican Senate primary, abandoned the GOP and announced an independent candidacy less than 24 hours before the qualification deadline.

Gov. Crist’s sudden defection allows him to be placed directly on the ballot without needing the Republican Party’s official nomination. This sort of tactic essentially allows him to be defeated, yet still have a second chance at victory. What effect could this have on the overall election? In at least one recent election, the defector proved victorious – Joe Lieberman won his Senate seat in 2006 after being defeated by Ned Lamont and re-entering the race as an independent. In this case, whether Lieberman was the true Condorcet Winner is open to debate – yes, he was defeated by Lamont, but the only voters in the Connecticut primary were Democrats, not the entire population.

By seeking to require candidates to be free of party affiliation 18 months prior to the general election if they want to be on the ballot as an independent, Florida is trying to prevent these “sore losers” from having a second chance at the ballot. Would these changes be a positive for the election, or would they only serve to eliminate potential Condorcet Winners defeated in closed primaries?