SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. — Do you think there should be term limits for members of Congress? There’s a good chance you answered “yes.” It’s one of the most widely supported ideas in politics right now (and that’s saying something).
A Pew Research Center survey conducted this summer found a whopping 87% of Americans are in favor of it.
“I don’t care if you’re Republican, Independent, Democrat, male, female, Black, White, everyone believes we need term limits for members of Congress,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said, loosely speaking to the stats in a video posted on his campaign X account.
“As president, I’ll lead the efforts to bring about term limits through the states,” the presidential hopeful added.
But is that possible?
States can’t vote on establishing term limits for their D.C. representatives, at least according to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1995 ruled it would require a constitutional amendment.
However, there is another route through the states that is theoretically possible according to Louis Virelli, a constitutional law professor at Stetson College of Law.
“Article Five of the Constitution allows for a state or a new convention to be called by the states to amend the constitution,” Virelli explained.
That means states could theoretically bypass the necessary two-thirds vote from congressional lawmakers and adopt and then ratify a constitutional amendment — 34 states would need to be on board, a tall order that’s never been seen in U.S. history.
U.S. Term Limits, an organization that advocates for congressional term limits, says six states, including Florida, have submitted applications to be a part of the push.
“There is no clear legal authority and by no clear legal authority, I mean, no real authority at all as to what that means or how it would work,” Virelli added.
But term limits, in general, are a popular idea and likely why other candidates like former president Donald Trump, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy have also voiced support for term limits in the past.
“It's an election messaging that will go nowhere because it's a constitutional amendment, but they're using it because they think it appeals to the voters and polling tells them it's a good issue,” 10 Tampa Bay political analyst Lars Hafner said.
In the meantime, for voters, it is important to keep in mind you have the ultimate say in who gets elected every two years.
“What people don't realize is, their vote is term limits. They can vote someone out of office anytime they want to do it,” Hafner added.
Right now, 16 states, including Florida have term limits for their state legislators.
Experts say there are some downsides to term limits, including a decline in “institutional memory,” and an increase in lobbying power.
"I'd also point out that another way to sort of get the same effect as term limits is to reform voting and to eliminate gerrymandering,” Virelli added. “The fact that we are drawing districts in ways that are foregone conclusions on party lines at this point, in some ways belies term limits.”