Kathy Castor

2006

Castor entered the race for what was then the 11th district when five-term incumbent Jim Davis chose to run for governor, a race he later lost to Charlie Crist in the general election.^[10]

Castor won the September 5 Democratic primary—in what was widely regarded as the decisive contest in the only safe Democratic district on Florida’s Gulf Coast—defeating State Senator Les Miller, Al Fox, Scott Farrell, and Michael Steinberg. She received 54% of the vote, finishing more than 20 points ahead of Miller in the five-way race.

Eddie Adams Jr., an architect and former hospital laboratory technologist,^[15] was the only Republican to file. Castor was endorsed by the pro-choice political action committee EMILY's List, the League of Conservation Voters, Oceans Champions, The Tampa Tribune, The St. Petersburg Times and The Bradenton Herald.

Castor won the November general election,^[10] 70% to 30%, becoming the first woman to represent the Tampa Bay area in Congress and only the third person to represent this Tampa-based district since its creation in 1963 (it was the 10th district from 1963 to 1967, the 6th from 1967 to 1973, the 7th from 1973 to 1993, the 11th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 14th since 2013).

2010

Castor defeated Republican nominee Mike Prendergast, a career military officer who retired in 2008 as a colonel in the United States Army, with 60% of the vote to Prendergast's 40%.^[16] It was the best showing for a Republican in this district since 1994.

2012

After the 2010 census, Florida gained two more congressional seats. As a result, Castor's district was renumbered the 14th. It was no less Democratic than its predecessor, and Castor was reelected with 70.2% of the vote over Republican E. J. Otero.^[17]

2016

Prendergast considered a rematch against Castor in 2016, but instead opted to run for sheriff of Citrus County.^[18] Christine Quinn, the founder of My Family Seasonings, challenged Castor instead, running on a pro-business and anti-immigration platform.^[19] A court-ordered redistricting cut out the district's share of St. Petersburg while pushing it further into Tampa, but it was no less Democratic than its predecessor, and Castor defeated Quinn with 61.8% of the vote to Quinn's 38.2%.^[20]

2020

In a rematch, Castor defeated Quinn in a slightly tighter race than four years prior with 60.3% of the vote to Quinn's 39.7%.^[21]

Bush presidency (2007–2009)

Castor began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007,^[3] following the 2006 midterm elections, in which Democrats regained control of the House for the first time in 12 years.^[22] In her first term, she was appointed to the House Armed Services Committee, the House Rules Committee, and the House Steering and Policy Committee.^[3] Her early congressional priorities focused on housing, health care, veterans’ affairs, and energy policy. She backed coastal protection and energy provisions affecting Florida, including measures that maintained offshore drilling buffers in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.^[3]

As a freshman member of the 110th Congress, Castor sponsored legislation expanding benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, including improved educational assistance and health care services for wounded veterans treated at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa.^[3] She also pushed for the redeployment of forces in Afghanistan^[10] and in 2007 voted in favor of measures to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.^[23] The following year, she successfully championed legislation to allow low-income families with overdue medical bills to still be eligible for student loans. She also opposed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, also known as the "bailout bill", arguing it did not sufficiently protect middle-class families or taxpayers.^[24] She instead backed the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.^[25]

Obama presidency (2009–2017)

After winning reelection in 2008, during the election cycle that brought Barack Obama to the presidency, Castor was appointed to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the 111th Congress.^[26] She later supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which she described as a key measure in stabilizing the economy.^[27] Recovery Act funds supported transportation, education, housing, research, law enforcement, and infrastructure projects in the Tampa Bay area, including the I-4/Crosstown Connector.^[28][29]

Republicans regained control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections.^[30] Castor later criticized the 2013 Republican sequester cuts affecting Head Start programs as well as research programs at Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida.^[31][32] In 2014, she supported a bipartisan budget agreement that restored Head Start funding with an increase of $1 billion over sequestration levels and $612 million over the previous year's enacted level.^[33]

During Obama's presidency, Castor supported improved relations between the United States and Cuba,^[34] and visited Cuba as part of a congressional delegation.^[34] In 2013, she filed an amicus brief supporting the Supreme Court striking down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and later welcomed the Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing same-sex marriage.^[35][36]

After the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, she participated in John Lewis's congressional sit-in to demand that those on the No Fly List lose the right to purchase firearms.^[37] While acknowledging that not allowing those on the No Fly List from buying guns or banning assault rifles might not have prevented the shooting, she argued that "common sense laws" could help prevent future tragedies.^[38] Following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, Castor again called for expanded federal funding for gun violence prevention research through repeal of the Dickey Amendment, which had limited such funding for the CDC.^[39][40]

First Trump presidency (2017–2021)

After Democrats regained control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections,^[41] Castor was appointed chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis,^[42] which was established at the start of the 116th Congress in 2019 to develop recommendations on climate policy.^[43] The panel later produced a broad climate action framework that influenced subsequent Democratic climate legislation. As chair, Castor was credited with helping advance congressional climate policy initiatives.^[44] In December 2019, Castor voted to impeach President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.^[45]

Biden presidency (2021–2025)

In 2021, after President Trump left office, Castor joined 267 members of the House in voting to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. She argued the repeal would restore Congress's constitutional authority over the use of military force and prevent future presidents from using the authorization to justify unrelated military actions. Castor stated that repealing the resolution would allow Congress to "once more execute its solemn constitutional responsibility" and "end the blank check for war."^[46]

Republicans regained control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections.^[47] The following year, Castor voted in favor of security assistance for Israel after the Hamas attacks on October 7.^[48][49] In July 2024, she called for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential election,^[50] which was later won by Donald Trump.^[51]

Second Trump presidency (2025–present)

In 2025, Castor proposed legislation to prohibit power companies from using ratepayer revenues for lobbying and campaign donations.^[52] The following year, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Florida Republicans approved a redistricting map that opponents described as a partisan gerrymander and that significantly weakened several Democratic-held districts, including Castor's.^[53] Castor described the map as "blatantly unconstitutional" but committed to seeking reelection in Florida's 14th congressional district.^[54]