Laurel Frances Lee (née Moore; born March 26, 1974) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the
U.S. representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
for
Florida's 15th congressional district
Florida's 15th congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress and was reassigned in 2012, effective January 2013, to the northern parts of Hillsborough and Polk counties as well as the southernmost parts of Lake.
See ...
since 2023. A member of the
Republican Party, she was a judge on
Florida's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit from 2013 to 2019 and was the 30th
Secretary of State of Florida
The Secretary of State of Florida is an executive officer of the state government of the U.S. state of Florida, established since the original 1838 state constitution. Like the corresponding officials in other states, the original charge of th ...
from 2019 to 2022.
Legal career
Lee began her legal career as an attorney for the Carlton Fields law firm in 2003 before becoming an assistant public defender in 2005. Lee also served as an
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the
Middle District of Florida from 2007 until her appointment by then-Governor
Rick Scott to a judgeship on the
Hillsborough County Circuit Court in 2013. She was unopposed for election to a full six-year term in 2014.
Florida Secretary of State
Lee was appointed
Florida Secretary of State
The Secretary of State of Florida is an executive officer of the state government of the U.S. state of Florida, established since the original 1838 state constitution. Like the corresponding officials in other states, the original charge of the ...
by
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Ron DeSantis
Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Repres ...
on January 28, 2019, replacing
Mike Ertel, who resigned after less than a month in office when a 2005 photo of him wearing
blackface as part of a Halloween costume as a
Hurricane Katrina victim surfaced.
In October 2020, weeks before the 2020 election, Lee sought to purge felons from voter rolls if they had outstanding court debts. ''Politico'' called the move "a surprise, late-hour move that comes after more than 2 million people already have voted in the presidential battleground." Lee's decision was not distributed to the wider public, only to local election officials.
In December 2021, Lee made a criminal referral to
Florida Attorney General
The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs.
The office is one of Florida's t ...
Ashley Moody
Ashley Brooke Moody (born March 28, 1975) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Florida attorney general since January 2019.
During her tenure as Florida attorney general, Moody has supported lawsuits to invalidate the Affordable ...
seeking an investigation into potentially fraudulent signatures collected by
Las Vegas Sands
Las Vegas Sands Corporation is an American casino and resort company with corporate headquarters in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Its corporate mission is to create "Integrated Resorts" which feature a combination of gambling, accommodation, ...
in a petition drive to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the November 2022 elections that would expand casino gambling.
On May 12, 2022, Lee announced she was resigning effective four days later, seven months before the 2022 election. She did not offer a reason for resigning. On May 17, she announced her candidacy for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
in in the
2022 elections. She won the general election by a wide margin.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee assignments
For the
118th Congress
The 118th United States Congress is the next meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It is scheduled to meet in Washington ...
:
*
Committee on Homeland Security
**
Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection
**
Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security
*
Committee on House Administration
The United States House Committee on House Administration deals with the general administration matters of the United States House of Representatives.
History
The Committee on House Administration was created by the Legislative Reorganization A ...
**
Subcommittee on Elections (Chair)
*
Committee on the Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary may mean:
* United States House Committee on the Judiciary
* United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standi ...
**
Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet
**
Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance
**
Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight
Personal life
Lee is married to
Tom Lee, a former member of the
Florida Senate
The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted in ...
. They have three children. They live in
Brandon, Florida
Brandon is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 114,626 at the 2020 ...
. Lee is
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
.
References
External links
Congresswoman Laurel Leeofficial U.S. House website
Campaign websiteLaurel Lee on the Border, Ukraine, and Elections*
*
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Laurel M.
Living people
21st-century American judges
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women judges
21st-century American women lawyers
21st-century American women politicians
Assistant United States Attorneys
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Florida Republicans
Florida state court judges
Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni
Protestants from Florida
Public defenders
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Florida
Secretaries of State of Florida
University of Florida alumni
Women in Florida politics
1974 births