Anna Eskamani

Anna Vishkaee Eskamani (born May 20, 1990) is an American politician who is the member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 47th district in Orange County. She is the first Iranian American in the Florida legislature. A Democrat, she supports legalized abortion, gun control, and environmental regulations such as a ban on plastic bags. She has worked for Planned Parenthood.

Anna Eskamani
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 47th district
Assumed office
November 6, 2018
Preceded byMike Miller
Personal details
Born (1990-05-20) May 20, 1990
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic

Early life

Eskamani was born in Orlando, Florida to parents who immigrated to the United States from Iran.[1] Eskamani has an older brother Arya and a twin sister Ida. In 2004, Eskamani's mother died of colon cancer.[1]

Education

Eskamani attended University High School in Orlando, Florida. She participated in after school technical theatre and graduated in 2008. She received two bachelor's degrees in 2012 and two master's degrees in 2015 from the University of Central Florida (UCF).[2] She also earned two certificates and taught at UCF as an adjunct professor. She is pursuing a PhD at UCF in Public Affairs.

In 2020 she was selected by the University of Central Florida (UCF) as a member of their Distinguished Alumnus, the highest annual honor UCF Alumni bestows upon a graduate.

Political career

Planned Parenthood

According to Eskamani, she first became involved with Planned Parenthood as a patient in 2008. With abstinence-only education at her public school, she turned to Planned Parenthood for information about family planning and reproductive health. From there, Eskamani began volunteering at her local Planned Parenthood affiliate, and in 2012 was hired to serve as a Development Coordinator. She worked at Planned Parenthood for six years, rising to become the organization's Senior Director of Public Affairs and Communications for the merged affiliate known as Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida.[1]

2018 Florida House of Representatives campaign
Eskamani being sworn in as a member of the Florida House of Representatives in 2018

On July 3, 2017, Eskamani announced her candidacy for the 47th district seat in the Florida House of Representatives. She ran for the open seat vacated by Republican Mike Miller, who had served two terms in the district and before announcing a run for Congress. On December 20, 2017, Eskamani faced two Republican opponents in a primary and one Democratic opponent who did not live in the district, and would eventually withdraw from the race after Eskamani filed a lawsuit[3] challenging his legitimacy as a candidate.

Over the course of her 2018 campaign, Eskamani received endorsements from prominent community leaders, organizations, and politicians. This included President Barack Obama, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, Equality Florida, AFL-CIO, and the Florida Professional Firefighters State Association.

Eskamani identifies as a progressive Democrat, and focused her campaign on enhancing public education, protecting the environment, ensuring health care access and prioritizing gun control legislation.[4]

During her campaign, Eskamani gained national media attention for her advocacy on women's issues and gun control legislation. Pulse nightclub is located in Florida's 47th district, and Eskamani often spoke about gun violence. She was featured on the cover of Time Magazine,[5] in The Atlantic,[6] the New York Times,[7] The Independent,[8] by MTV News,[9] Teen Vogue,[10] and in a Vice News[11] documentary series.

The Orlando Sentinel described Eskamani's as one of the most contentious races[12] in the area. Her Republican opponent, Stockton Reeves VI, sent out at least twenty-five pieces of mail alongside three television ads that were negative towards Eskamani. Eskamani addressed each attack directly.[13] Despite being a first time candidate, Eskamani raised more than $522,000 for her campaign.[14]

Eskamani prevailed in the general election on November 6, 2018, winning 57 percent of the vote over the 43 percent for Republican candidate Stockton Reeves.[15] Eskamani became the first Iranian-American to serve in the Florida Legislature.[16]

Eskamani debates a measure on the House floor in 2019

2019 Florida legislative session

Eskamani was appointed to serve on four legislative committees in the Florida House of Representatives: Local, Federal & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, Oversight, Transparency & Public Management Subcommittee, PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee, and Ways & Means Committee.[2] During the first week of legislative committee meetings in Tallahassee, Eskamani made a public decision to not attend a freshman reception hosted by Associated Industries of Florida (AIF).[17] Eskamani was quoted as saying, "I didn't come here for ritzy parties".[18]

During the 2019 legislative session, Eskamani was featured by the Tampa Bay Times as being on the front lines of the abortion debate.[19] She was also a leader for the failed attempt to run out the clock on legislation that would define sanctuary city policies in Florida law.[20]

When a woman who alleged domestic violence was charged with armed burglary and grand theft for entering into her husband's locked apartment and taking his guns into the Lakeland, Florida police in June 2019, Eskamani tweeted that an arrest was "ridiculous" in this kind of situation. She sent a letter stating to State Attorney Brian Haas stating “Prosecuting Ms. Irby sets a scary precedent that if someone seeks help to escape abuse, they will be punished for it.”[21] The State Attorney’s Office dropped all charges for both parties who were involved in a highly emotional contested divorce action in order for them to resolve their issues in a family law court.[22]

Eskamani is an advocate for public education,[23] school safety,[24] and environmental protection.[25] Eskamani sponsored ten bills herself and co-sponsored more than sixty.[26] She also succeeded in securing $80,000 for a Central Florida nonprofit focused on human trafficking prevention called The Lifeboat Project.[27]

References
  1. Eskamani, Anna (December 3, 2019). "How I Won a Florida Swing Seat as a Proud Abortion-Rights Supporter". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  2. "Florida House of Representatives - Anna  V. Eskamani - 2018 - 2020 ( Speaker Oliva )". myfloridahouse.gov. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  3. Gillespie, Ryan. "Lou Forges drops bid for House District 47, leaving Anna Eskamani unopposed". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  4. "Democrat Anna Eskamani is looking for your vote to send her to Tallahassee as the new representative of Florida House District 47. - Winter Park-Maitland Observer". West Orange Times & Windermere Observer. November 2, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  5. Cordeiro, Monivette. "Anna Eskamani makes cover of TIME featuring first-time women candidates". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  6. Graham, David A. (August 9, 2018). "How a Blue Wave Could Crash Far Beyond Washington". Retrieved December 17, 2018 – via The Atlantic.
  7. Roose, Kevin; Frenkel, Sheera (July 13, 2018). "4,500 Tech Workers, 1 Mission: Get Democrats Elected". Retrieved December 17, 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  8. "Beyond the House and Senate, more than 7,000 politicians will directly impact Americans' lives - and most have no idea who they are". The Independent. November 5, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  9. Powers, Scott. "MTV News contrasts Anna Eskamani and North Carolina young conservative". floridapolitics.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  10. Magane, Azmia. "This Feminist Hero Just Became the First Iranian-American Elected in Florida". Teen Vogue. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  11. News, VICE. "The story of four female candidates trying to make history in 2018". vice.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  12. Gillespie, Ryan. "Florida House race between Anna Eskamani, Stockton Reeves one of area's most contested". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  13. Wolf, Colin. "The Florida GOP keeps making Anna Eskamani look cool as hell". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  14. Wilson, Drew. "Anna Eskamani clears $500K raised for HD 47 flip". floridapolitics.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  15. "Florida Election Results - Election Results 2018 - The New York Times". The New York Times. November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  16. "Democrat Anna Eskamani defeated Republican Stockton Reeves with 57.35% of the votes to win the race for Florida House District 47". West Orange Times & Windermere Observer. November 6, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  17. Perry, Mitch (December 10, 2018). "Taking on the status quo: Freshman Democratic lawmaker says no thanks to attending exclusive corporate-sponsored event". floridaphoenix.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  18. "On night of special interest welcome party for new legislators, some Democrats opt out". miamiherald. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  19. McNeill, Claire (April 25, 2019). "Those on Florida's front lines in the abortion battle know change is coming". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  20. Gross, Samantha. "FL Dems say shot at killing sanctuary cities bill fell 10 minutes short". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  21. "Florida woman charged after giving estranged husband's guns to police". Associated Press. June 24, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019 – via Los Angeles Times.
  22. Berkowitz, Kathy Leigh (August 27, 2019). "State Attorney's Office drops charges in Irby case". The Ledger. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  23. Postal, Leslie (April 29, 2019). "Florida House votes to expand school voucher programs". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  24. Gancarski, A. G. "House OKs armed teachers in classrooms in school safety vote". Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  25. Contorno, Steve (April 9, 2019). "Publix embraces plastic bag ban in South Carolina, so why not in Florida?". The Ledger, Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  26. "Representative Anna V. Eskamani 2019- Sponsored Bills". myfloridahouse.gov. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  27. "Request Rejected". Retrieved September 25, 2019.
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