Thurman, Karen L. (Karen Loveland), 1951-

Karen L. Thurman (born January 12, 1951) is an American teacher and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 5th Congressional district from 1993 to 2003.

Born Karen Loveland in Rapid City, South Dakota, she grew up in Florida, receiving her associate’s degree from Santa Fe Community College in Stark, Florida and BA from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. After graduation, she worked as a middle school math teacher. In 1973, she married John Thurman. Karen Thurman was first elected to public office in 1974, when she won a seat on the city council of Dunnellon, Florida, on which she served until 1983. She served as Mayor of Dunnellon from 1979 to 1981. She served in the Florida State Senate from 1983 to 1993.

In 1992, after Florida re-drew its district boundaries, Thurman chose to run for Congress for a newly created U.S. House seat that included the city of Gainesville and several counties on Florida’s northern west coast. Thurman drew from her state senate seat constituency, which overlapped with a large portion of the new congressional district. Thurman ran as a centrist Democrat, supporting health care reform and women's reproductive rights while opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement and supporting shrinking welfare entitlement programs. Thurman won the 1992 race by six points.

Though supporting the Clinton administration budget, she followed through on her promise to oppose NAFTA and later voted against the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade accord. She sided with the National Rifle Association in opposing two gun control bills put forward by the Clinton administration in her first term and opposed lifting the military’s ban preventing gay men and women from serving in the armed forces. Though targeted for supporting the Clinton budget, Thurman was easily re-elected in a year when many Democrats succumbed to the GOP's "Contract with America." Once re-elected to office, Thurman focused her efforts on meeting the needs of her district’s large population of retirees and senior citizens: ensuring Social Security solvency and developing a comprehensive prescription drug program. Veterans’ issues received her attention, and she helped steer more than $350 million in funds into her state in the late 1990s, much of which benefited veterans by creating primary care clinics in areas where no Department of Veterans Affairs hospital existed. She also supported most of the Clinton administration’s lead on educational issues, backing nationalized testing standards and opposing private school vouchers.

With redistricting following the 2000 Census, Thurman's district lost heavily Democratic areas while gaining more conservative areas. In 2002, Thurman lost to Republican Ginny Brown-Waite by a two-point margin. When her term expired in January 2003, Thurman returned to Dunnellon. She was later elected chair of the Florida Democratic Party, serving in that role from 2005 to 2010.