Resign-to-run laws are laws in several juridictions in democracies

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 where a current office-holder

Incumbent

The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

 cannot run for another office.

Rationale and Advantages

• Campaigning may be time-consuming; campaigners may short-change their jobs while running for another office.
• While campaigning, office-holders may attempt to (inappropriately) use resources from their current office for the campaign. This could include the office-holders' current staff.
• An office-holder who aspires to a greater office may not work as hard in that office as they might if they actually wanted that office, and may take actions that make them attractive for the position they want.
• An office-holder who does want to run for higher office may time their run to complete their tasks in their current office. An example of this is Rodney Glassman, potential candidate for US Senator from Arizona
  Arizona
  Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
  
  , who delayed his formal announcement until the city's budget is completed.

Disadvantages

• Those who aspire to higher office may not take the lower positions in resign-to-run areas, since the positions cannot be "stepping stones" for them.
• Office-holders who do want a higher office must work elsewhere for some amount of time before running, reducing the number of candidates for the higher office.
• Since office-holders often reward their home areas, it is advantageous to have residents of an area in the higher offices. Resign-to-run laws hinder running for those offices.
• An office-holder who wants to run for a higher office may resign to campaign for that office, whereas they otherwise would remain.

Arizona

38-296. Limitation upon filing for election by incumbent of elective office,

which states that "[e]xcept during the final year of the term being served, no incumbent of a salaried elective office, whether holding by election or appointment, may offer himself for nomination or election to any salaried local, state or federal office." Except that "[a]n incumbent of a salaried elected office shall be deemed to have offered himself for nomination or election to a salaried local, state or federal office upon the filing of a nomination paper pursuant to section 16-311, subsection A or formal public declaration of candidacy for such office whichever occurs first." There is no definition of what constitutes a "formal public declaration", thereby creating an ambiguity that is currently a matter of controversy in Arizona.

Florida

Section 99.012, Florida Statutes, states,

No officer may qualify as a candidate for another public office, whether state, district, county or municipal, if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other, without resigning from the office he or she presently holds.