ORLANDO | Former state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith is heading back onto the campaign trail and this time he is running to join the Florida Senate.
Guillermo Smith announced his run for Florida Senate District 17 from the steps of Orlando City Hall April 8 surrounded by about 100 friends, family and supporters.
“It is a tremendous honor to be standing here,” Guillermo Smith said, “shoulder to shoulder, with this incredible coalition of community leaders, elected officials, parents, union workers, renters, small business owners, college students, teachers, educators, arts and culture advocates, campaign volunteers and registered voters in District 17. This coalition will choose the next state senator from Central Florida.”
The 42-year-old Democrat, who represented Florida House District 49 from 2016-2022, is now looking to take up the senate seat currently held by state Sen. Linda Stewart. Stewart, who has held her position in the senate since 2016, is unable to seek reelection due to term limits set in the Florida Senate.
Guillermo Smith was joined by several elected officials including Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, state Sen. Victor Torres and state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani.
“We need Carlos’ voice now more than ever. … As a member of the Florida House, his absence is felt,” Eskamani said. “We are fighting to increase access to gun safety and reduce community violence, to push back against efforts to erase the LGBTQ+ community, on efforts to ban drag shows, to ban books. We need Carlos’ voice, his representation matters.”
“I can tell you the most powerful thing that we have is our story,” Frost said. “When you look at the story of someone like Carlos Guillermo Smith, someone who represented us so bravely in Tallahassee. Someone who’s been fighting and fighting and fighting to see the world through the eyes of the most vulnerable through legislation, you see someone who has been personally impacted. Part of Carlos’ story involves a hate crime he was the victim of and in the face of that he stepped up to fight for everybody.”
Guillermo Smith became Florida’s first openly-LGBTQ+ Latino lawmaker with his election to the state House of Representatives in 2016. After serving as the House District 49 representative for six years, Guillermo Smith, due to redirecting, ran for District 37 and narrowly lost to Republican Susan Plasencia.
“Folks, I’ve got skin in the game,” Guillermo Smith said. “Because the work that we have to do together to rebuild an inclusive Florida is something that my husband Jerrick, the man who I love, who inspires me every single day, it is something that we want for ourselves as well. We want an inclusive Florida that we are proud to call our home.”
Guillermo Smith is the first candidate to announce a run for District 17. The election will take place in 2024.
For more information on Carlos Guillermo Smith’s senate run, visit CarlosGuillermoSmith.com.