Kosmas, Suzanne, 1944-

Suzanne M. Kosmas (born February 25, 1944) is an American real estate broker and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 24th congressional district from 2009 until 2011.

Born Suzanne McDonald in Washington, DC, she attended Pennsylvania State University, State College, from 1961 to 1963, and George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, from 1971 to 1973. She moved to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, in 1973, where she and her husband, Paul Kosmas, started a family. Kosmas started a real estate brokerage in 1979, and eventually returned to school, graduating from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, in 1998. In 1996 Kosmas was elected as a Democrat to the Florida state house of representatives, where she served four consecutive terms until 2004. In the state legislature, she supported increased funding for education and health care. As a member of the minority party in the Florida legislature, Kosmas developed a reputation as a moderate legislator willing to collaborate with members of both parties. In 2008 Kosmas challenged Republican Representative Tom Feeney, the three-term incumbent representing a coastal Florida district that encompassed the Orlando suburbs in Orange and Seminole County; the Kennedy Space Center was a major employer in the district. Feeney’s reputation had been tarnished after he was fined by the House for ethics violations. Kosmas easily won the Democratic primary with 72 percent of the vote and went on to defeat Feeney with a 57 percent majority in the general election.

Because the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had such a large presence in her district, Kosmas was appointed to the Science and Technology Committee in the House, and she picked up a seat on Financial Services Committee, as well. As her first official act in the House, Kosmas cosponsored legislation to prevent an increase in congressional pay. She also sponsored legislation to provide tax relief to students and teachers and to promote small businesses and investments in distressed communities. With the Kennedy Space Center located in her district, Kosmas also focused on promoting the transition from the current space shuttle program to the new Constellation program with its goal of interplanetary travel. In 2009 she worked to earmark $2 billion for NASA in the stimulus and economic recovery packages amid the fallout of the Great Recession, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Kosmas supported much of the party’s legislative agenda in the House. She voted in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act and, from her seat on the Financial Services Committee, she supported the push to reform and regulate Wall Street in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Though she initially opposed the major Democratic health care reform bill, Affordable Health Care for America, which passed in the House in November of 2009, she voted for the final version, the Affordable Care Act, in March 2010.

Kosmas lost re-election in 2010, during a wave cycle that saw Republicans take back the House majority. Amid widespread conservative unrest following the first two years of the administration of Barack Obama, Republican Sandy Adams defeated Kosmas by 19 percent.