On Monday, GOP Congressman Ron DeSantis, who is currently running for the position of governor in Florida, announced that he has resigned from Congress and it’s “effective immediately.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan received a letter from DeSantis office announcing the Republican’s resignation.

“As the Republican nominee for Governor of Florida, it is clear to me that I will likely miss the vast majority of our remaining session days for this Congress. Under these circumstances, it would be inappropriate for me to accept a salary,” DeSantis said in the letter.

“In order to honor my principles and protect the taxpayer, I officially resign from the House of Representatives effective immediately,” he added.

DeSantis is running a close race with Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee who won the Democratic primary last month in an upset.

Last month, during a rant, DeSantis referred to Gillum as a “monkey,” causing him to receive major backlash.

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