Wilton Simpson (born June 28, 1966) is an American politician and Agriculture Commissioner-elect of

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 ...

. From 2012 to 2022, he served as a 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 ...

, representing areas around

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

, Hernando, and Pasco Counties. He was elected

Senate President President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for ex ...

for the 2020–2022 legislature.

Early life and education

Simpson was born in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

in 1966. He earned an Associate of Arts degree from

Pasco–Hernando State College Pasco–Hernando State College (PHSC) is a public college in Florida with campuses in Pasco and Hernando counties. It is part of the Florida College System and has additional campuses in Brooksville, Dade City, New Port Richey, Spring Hill, a ...

(formerly Pasco–Hernando Community College) in 1997. Simpson has worked for his family's businesses, Simpson Environmental Services and Simpson Farms.

Political career

Florida Senate

Following the reconfiguration of

districts in 2012, Simpson ran in the newly created 18th District, and though he initially anticipated engaging State Representative John Legg in a "very difficult primary," he ended up winning the nomination of the Republican Party and the general election unopposed when Legg decided to run in an adjacent district and his only Democratic opponent, a college student, dropped out. While serving in the legislature, Simpson was given control by

President

Don Gaetz Donald Jay Gaetz ( ; born January 22, 1948) is a Republican politician who served as a member of the Florida State Senate from 2006 to 2016, representing parts of Northwest Florida. He was Senate president from 2012 to 2014. He is the father of C ...

over the reform of the Florida Retirement System, and announced that he would either accept the plan proposed by 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, adopted ...

, which was "a sweeping...plan that would close the FRS pension system to all new employees who become eligible after January 1, 2014," or his own plan, "which would only close the pension plan to senior management and elected officials who become eligible after July 1, 2014. However, on April 30, 2013, the Florida Senate rejected a plan similar to the House proposal, and as the 2013 session closed out, Simpson conceded that there would no reforms for the rest of the year. Simpson had more success, however, with legislation dealing with the restoration of the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...

, whereby taxes on farmers in the region would be maintained until the 2030s, $880 million would be allocated for water quality restoration, and $32 million would be spent annually on reducing the amount of phosphorus that flows into the region, which was unanimously approved by the legislature. Simpson's district was reconfigured and renumbered after court-ordered

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

in 2016. Simpson has proposed measures that would impose fees and barriers on those who install solar panels on their rooftops. Investigative reporting by the ''Orlando Sentinel'' alleged that

Florida Power & Light Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. (formerly FPL Group, Inc.), is the largest power utility in Florida. It is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility company serving roughly 5 million customer ...

, a dominant Florida utility company that has supposedly sought to hobble the residential solar power industry, ran "ghost" candidates that were intended to help Simpson win re-election by diluting the Democratic vote. On November 17, 2020, Simpson was elected Senate president for the 2020–2022 legislature.

Candidate for Florida Agriculture Commissioner

In September 2021, Simpson announced he is running for Florida Agriculture Commissioner in the 2022 election cycle. President Donald Trump, 59 Florida Sheriffs, The NRA, Florida Farm Bureau FarmPAC, The Florida Police Benevolent Association, Florida Forestry Association, Florida Chamber of Commerce, The Associated Industries of Florida, Colonel Mike Waltz, Attorney General Ashley Moody and CFO Jimmy Patronis have all endorsed Wilton Simpson for Agriculture Commissioner.

References

External links

Florida State Senate – Wilton SimpsonSimpson for Commissioner of Agriculture
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Wilton 1966 births 21st-century American politicians Florida Commissioners of Agriculture Republican Party Florida state senators Living people