Castor, Kathy, 1966-

Katherine Anne Castor (born August 20, 1966) is an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party, she currently represent Florida's 14th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, serving since 2007. The district was numbered as the 11th district from 2007 to 2013.

Born in Miami and raised in Tampa, she graduated from Tampa's Chamberlain High School before earning a B.A. from Emory University and a J.D. from the Florida State University College of Law. Castor began her legal career as assistant general counsel to the Florida Department of Community Affairs. She is the former president of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers and partner in a statewide law firm. After losing a bid for the Florida state senate in 2000, she was elected to the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners, serving from 2002 through 2006. Her primary focus was on health care. In 2006, she entered the race to succeed five-term Representative Jim Davis, easily winning in the safe Democratic district.

Since her first congressional campaign in 2006, Castor has supported a withdrawal of U.S. troops out of Iraq and redeployment of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Castor supports same sex marriage; in 2013, she filed a historic Amicus Brief in support of the Supreme Court striking down Section 3 of the defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and applauded the Supreme Court when it made its ruling to do so later that year. In both 2019 and 2021, Castor co-sponsored and voted for the Equality Act which would amend the Civil Rights Act to "prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition of an individual, as well as because of sex-based stereotypes." Castor is also an outspoken advocate for gun control.