The Inspire Party Leader announced his resignation after Tuesday night’s Senate meeting.
An election to replace Ben Lima will be held at the weekly caucus meeting Monday night, Assistant Minority Leader Santiago Clavijo-Gomez said. Clavijo-Gomez said he is serving as Acting Minority Leader until the election.
Senators must be nominated at the meeting to run for office, and senators can nominate themselves, Clavijo-Gomez said.
He said he expects to be nominated and plans to run for minority party leader and that Legislative Director Claudia Paola Tio messaged him and other senators announcing that she is planning to run.
Lima said he is stepping down to focus on his grades and exams. The 21-year-old UF political science senior plans to attend law school and is in the process of preparing to take the LSAT, the law school aptitude test, in February.
“This is a position that requires 100 percent commitment and attention,” he said. “I’ve been in this for two-plus years, and I really just need to focus on academics right now.”
He is a member of Inspire and will finish his term as a senator for District D.
In addition to serving as a District D senator, Lima said he served as Inspire president from Fall 2017 to Spring 2018, a campaign manager in Fall 2018 and 2019 and minority leader from Fall 2019 until his resignation.
Lima formally announced Inspire’s creation and founding pillars as the party’s inaugural president during the Fall 2017 election. He has been a consistent party leader and member since its inception.
Lima announced the resolution to impeach Student Body President Michael Murphy in Fall.
Lima was one of two senators forced to resign their seat over the Summer after he was deemed “constructively absent” by then-Senate President Libby Shaw, putting him over the absence limit. He appealed his resignation, but it failed.
Inspire won the majority of votes in Fall for the first time. Lima was a campaign manager during the election, and he was elected a District D senator.
Contact Chasity Maynard at cmaynard@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @chasitymaynard0.
