Crist, Charlie, 1956-

CRIST, Charlie Joseph, Jr., a Representative from Florida; born in Altoona, Blair County, Pa., July 24, 1956; graduated from St. Petersburg High School, St. Petersburg, Fla., 1974; attended Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C.; B.A., Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla., 1978; J.D., Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Ala., 1981; lawyer, private practice; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Florida state senate in 1986; staff, United States Senator Connie Mack of Florida, 1989; member of the Florida state senate, 1993-1999; Florida deputy secretary of business and professional regulation, 1999-2001; Florida state education commissioner, 2001-2003; Florida state attorney general, 2003-2007; Governor of Florida, 2007-2011; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 2010; unsuccessful candidate for election for Governor of Florida in 2014; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Fifteenth and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2017-present).

<p>Charlie Crist is honored to represent Florida’s 13th, the most beautiful congressional district in the country. The district covers Pinellas County from Clearwater down through St. Pete, where he grew up.</p>

<p>Charlie has spent his life’s work serving his fellow Floridians. He was elected to the Florida State Senate in 1992, where he championed environmental protection issues and public education. In 2000, after two terms in the Florida Senate, Charlie continued to push for education funding and better teacher pay as the state’s Education Commissioner. In 2002, he was elected Florida Attorney General, a role through which he fought for consumer protections, civil rights, and opportunities for at-risk youth.</p>

<p>Elected as Florida’s 44th Governor, Charlie furthered his commitment to public education, using federal stimulus funding to save thousands of teachers’ jobs. As a staunch environmental advocate, he also secured a landmark land acquisition to preserve the Florida Everglades, and fought to hold BP accountable after the 2010 oil spill that ravaged Florida’s coastline. He continued to lead efforts to protect civil rights, taking action to automatically restore voting rights of non-violent ex-felons and to extend voting hours across the state for all Floridians.</p>

<p>Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (/krɪst/; born July 24, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the U.S. Representative from Florida's 13th congressional district since 2017. The district is based in St. Petersburg. He served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011.</p>

<p>Crist began his political career as a Republican, serving in the Florida Senate from 1993 to 1999, running unsuccessfully against incumbent Bob Graham for the U.S. Senate in 1998 and then serving as Florida Education Commissioner from 2001 to 2003 and Florida Attorney General from 2003 to 2007, before being elected governor in 2006.</p>

<p>After initially leading in the 2010 Senate race for the Republican nomination, Crist was overtaken in the polls by Marco Rubio when the state GOP committee decided not to fund his reelection bid, and in April 2010, Crist left the Republican Party to run as an independent. In the general election, he lost to Rubio in a three-way race, taking 30% of the vote to Rubio's 49% and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek's 20%. Crist's term as governor ended in January 2011.</p>

<p>On December 7, 2012, Crist joined the Democratic Party, having endorsed President Barack Obama for reelection in 2012. On November 1, 2013, he announced that he was running for governor in the 2014 election. He was defeated by Governor Rick Scott, Crist's successor, by a 1% margin. In 2016, Crist was elected to Congress from his home district, the 13th, defeating incumbent Republican David Jolly, 52%–48% and became the first Democrat to represent this district since 1955. As of the 117th Congress, Crist is the only former governor serving in the House.</p>

<p>Crist is a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election.</p>.