FL-06
The district: Florida’s 6th Congressional District (FL-06) stretches from southern Jacksonville to New Smyrna Beach, including Daytona Beach, and has been represented by Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis since 2013. Although Rep. DeSantis announced his candidacy for governor in December 2017, Ambassador Soderberg has been running here since July 2017.
Our candidate: Former diplomat Nancy Soderberg is running to replace retiring GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis in Florida’s 6th Congressional District. She served in the Clinton administration on the National Security Council and as Ambassador to the United Nations. She also served in Senator Ted Kennedy’s office as a Senior Foreign Policy Advisor. Ambassador Soderberg has been active in Democratic politics since the early 1980s, having worked on four presidential campaigns. She is also a trustee of the Florida Democratic Party.
FL-18
The district: Florida’s 18th congressional district (FL-18) is in southeastern Florida, stretching from Ft. Pierce to Palm Beach, and it has been represented by Republican Rep. Brian Mast since 2017. Mast won an open seat contest in the district after the incumbent, Democrat Patrick Murphy, vacated the seat to challenge Senator Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate race. Rep. Murphy had held the seat since 2013. According to the Cook Political Report, the district has a PVI of R+5 and is rated lean Republican.
Our Candidate: Lauren Baer is a Marshall scholar, attorney, and former senior advisor in the State Department during the Obama Administration. In that capacity, she served as a senior advisor to Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. She is currently a consultant with the Albright Stonebridge Group. Baer is closely connected with the Jewish community in Palm Beach, and her grandparents founded the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.
FL-26
The district: Florida’s 26th congressional district is in South Florida, including a portion of Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys. Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo won the seat in 2014 after defeating then-incumbent Rep. Joe Garcia, a Democrat. Curbelo most recently won reelection in a rematch against Garcia in 2016 with 53% of the vote. At the same time, the district voted for Secretary Clinton by a massive 16-point margin, making the district a highly competitive seat for 2018.
Our candidate: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell came to the U.S. from Ecuador as a child and has spent her career working for nonprofit organizations such as the Hope Center, Zoo Miami Foundation, and the Coral Restoration Foundation. Since 2003, she has worked with Florida International University to expand access to healthcare for Floridians, where she established the Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP program.
FL-27
The district: Florida’s 27th Congressional District (FL-27) is located in South Florida and includes part of Miami-Dade County and portions of the City of Miami. The Republican incumbent, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is not seeking reelection, leaving an open seat contest that is widely expected to be the best Democratic pick up opportunity in 2018. Although Rep. Ros-Lehtinen was reelected in 2016 with 54.9% of the vote, Secretary Clinton carried the district by almost a 20-point margin in the presidential contest. After a hotly contested multi-candidate primary, Secretary Shalala secured the Democratic nomination on August 26th with 32% of the vote.
Our candidate: Donna Shalala is the Democratic nominee for Florida’s 27th Congressional District (FL-27). Secretary Shalala served as the US Secretary of Health and Human Services during the entirety of the Clinton administration. After leaving government service in 2001, she returned to academia as president of the University of Miami, a post which she held for 14 years.