Christopher John Latvala (born December 29, 1981) is an American politician and a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopt ...

. He represents the 67th District, which includes Clearwater and Largo in northern Pinellas County. He has served in the Florida House of Representatives since 2014.

History

Latvala was born in

Dunedin, Florida Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area and i ...

, to Jack Latvala, formerly a

Florida State Senator 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 ...

from the 20th District. After his parents divorced, he grew up with his mother in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. Latvala attended Valencia Community College, receiving his associates degree in 2002, and the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State Universi ...

, receiving his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in history in 2004. Following graduation, he began working as

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United S ...

Ed Hooper's legislative aide, a position that he held from 2006 to 2009. After leaving the legislature as an aide, Latvala began working at his father's company, GCI Printing Services, where he currently works as Vice-President. Latvala was elected in November 2014 to Florida's 67th House District. Additionally, Latvala is a realtor with Smith & Associates based out of Pinellas County.

Florida House of Representatives

In 2014, incumbent Representative Ed Hooper was unable to seek re-election due to term limits, so Latvala ran to succeed him. He ran against veteran Christopher Shepard in the primary election, and campaigned on the experience that he gained while working for Hooper, noting that it "taught him the value of constituent services--helping individual citizens with their state government problems." Latvala defeated Shepard with 67% of the vote and later defeated the Democratic nominee Steve Sarnoff with 53% of the vote. Latvala was re-elected in 2016 with 58.6% of the vote, in 2018 with 54.0% of the vote, and in 2020 with 57.0% of the vote. In 2021, as Chair of the Florida House Education and Employment Committee, Latvala supported legislation which would ban transgender athletes from competing in high school sports. The legislation was opposed by organizations such as

Equality Florida Equality Florida is a political advocacy group that advocates for civil rights and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) residents of the U.S. state of Florida. Equality Florida consists of two organizations - Equ ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

, and the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

References

External links

Florida House of Representatives - Chris LatvalaChris Latvala for State Representative
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latvala, Chris 1981 births 21st-century American politicians Living people Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives People from Clearwater, Florida University of Central Florida alumni