Karen L. Thurman (born January 12, 1951) is a former

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, serving five consecutive terms from 1993 to 2003. She is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Early life and education

She was born on January 12, 1951, in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

, but has spent most of her life in Florida. She received her associate degree from

Santa Fe College Santa Fe College is a public college based in Gainesville, Florida, with satellite campuses in Alachua and Bradford counties. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1965 as Santa Fe Junior College by the Florida Legisl ...

in Gainesville in 1970 and later her bachelor's degree in education from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville,

in 1973. She is married to John Thurman. They have two children, McLin (Macky) and Liberty Lee, and make their home in Dunnellon, Florida.

Early political career

Thurman was first elected to public office in 1974, when she won a seat on the city council of

Dunnellon, Florida Dunnellon is a city with the unique feature of sitting in 3 counties in Marion, Levy & Citrus counties in Florida, United States. The predominant part falls in the Marion county. The population was 1,928 at the 2020 census, up from 1,733 in 201 ...

, on which she served until 1983. She served as Mayor of Dunnellon from 1979 to 1981. She served in the

Florida State 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 ...

from 1983 to 1993.

Tenure in Congress

Florida gained three congressional districts after the 1990

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

. One of them was the 5th District, which stretched from Gainesville to the far northern portion of the

Tampa Bay Area The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the Unite ...

. It was an open secret that this district was drawn for Thurman. She was elected to the House from that district in 1992 and was reelected four more times with no serious opposition. Thurman was recognized as an expert on health, veterans, and tax issues. She was only the sixth woman to serve on the

House Ways and Means Committee The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other progra ...

. On Ways and Means she fought for lower prescription drugs, increased access to health insurance, and tax relief. Prior to her appointment to Ways and Means in 1996, Congresswoman Thurman served on both the House Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. After the 2000 census, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature reconfigured the 5th to make it friendlier to Republicans. She lost heavily Democratic Gainesville and surrounding Alachua County while picking up some heavily Republican territory between Tampa and

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

. The new 5th contained much of the territory located in the State Senate district of that body's President Pro Tem,

Ginny Brown-Waite Virginia Brown-Waite (born Virginia Frances Kniffen; October 5, 1943) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2003 until 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party and a founder of Maggie's List. The district stretched along sev ...

. Nonetheless, Thurman ran for reelection. Even though the redrawn district had gone narrowly for

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

in 2000 (

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

had won her old district handily), Thurman just barely lost to Brown-Waite. Since Thurman left office, the Democrats have cleared the 40 percent barrier in the district, now numbered as the 11th, only once.

Post-Congress career

In 2005 Thurman was elected Chairman of the

Florida Democratic Party The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Florida, headquartered in Tallahassee. Former mayor of Miami Manny Diaz Sr. is the current chair. Andrew Jackson, the first territorial governo ...

(FDP), succeeding Chairman

Scott Maddox Scott Charles Maddox (born March 13, 1968) is an American politician. He was the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, from 1995 to 1996 and from 1997 to 2005. Maddox is the former chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a former Tallahassee City Comm ...

, who resigned in order to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Thurman resigned on November 12, 2010, following the midterm elections. Thurman is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.

Personal

Her husband John Thurman was a Judge. She has two children; Macky and Liberty Thurman. She also has three grandchildren.

References

External links

Official Florida Democratic Party profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurman, Karen University of Florida College of Education alumni Living people 1951 births Democratic Party Florida state senators Politicians from Rapid City, South Dakota Female members of the United States House of Representatives Mayors of places in Florida Florida city council members Women city councillors in Florida Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Florida Women state legislators in Florida Women mayors of places in Florida State political party chairs of Florida 2008 United States presidential electors 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians People from Dunnellon, Florida