Escambia County Commissioner Robert Bender appointed to Supervisor of Elections office

Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Escambia County Commissioner Robert Bender as the new Escambia County Supervisor of Elections.

Bender takes over the office from former Supervisor of Elections David Stafford, who announced last month he was leaving the office to become an elections security advisor with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Bender told the News Journal that he's thankful to have served Escambia County for the last five years and is looking forward to serving in this new role.

"Especially with the year ahead, I think having someone with honor and integrity overseeing the elections of Escambia County is really what drew me to it," Bender said. "Running an efficient, safe and accurate election is the goal, and we'll be doing that in a month in March."

Bender will hit the ground running as Florida is set to have a presidential primary in March.

Bender will fill the remainder of Stafford's term and will have to run for re-election to the position later this year.

The Escambia County Commission District 4 seat will now have to be replaced with an appointment by DeSantis. However, the appointment will only be for a few months as the seat will also be up for election in November.

Whoever is appointed will have to face challenges from other candidates and win approval from the voters to stay on the commission for the remaining two years in Bender's term.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Robert Bender named new Escambia County Supervisor of Elections