Karen Thurman

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Karen L. Thurman is a former U.S. Representative from Florida. She is a Democrat.

She was born on January 12, 1951 in Rapid City, South Dakota, but has spent most of her life in Florida. She received her Associate's Degree from Santa Fe Community College in Starke, Florida in 1970 and her Bachelor's degree in education from the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1973.

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 1979-1981. She served in the Florida state senate from 1983-1993.

Florida gained three congressional districts after the 1990 census. One of them was the 5th District, which stretched from Gainesville to the far northern portion of the Tampa Bay Area. It was an open secret that this district was drawn for Thurman. She was elected to the House from that district in 1992 and was reelected four more times with no serious opposition.

Rep. Thurman was recognized as an expert on health, veterans, and tax issues. She was only the sixth woman to serve on the House Ways and Means committee. On Ways and Means she fought for lower prescription drugs, increased access to health insurance, and tax relief. Prior to her appointment to Ways and Means in 1996, Congresswoman Thurman served on both the House Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.

By the 2000 census, however, the Republicans controlled the state legislature, and they redrew the 5th to be slightly more friendly to Republicans. The new 5th was virtually coextensive with the district of State Senate President Pro Tem Ginny Brown-Waite. Nonetheless, Thurman ran for reelection. Even though the redrawn district had gone narrowly for George W. Bush in 2000 (Al Gore had won her old district handily), Thurman just barely lost to Brown-Waite.

In 2005 Thurman was elected Chairman of the Florida Democratic Party (FDP), succeeding Chairman Scott Maddox, who resigned in order to seek the Democratic nomination for governor.

State Chairs of the Democratic Party
AL: Joe Turnham AK: Jake Metcalf AZ: David Waid AR: Jason Willette CA: Art Torres CO: Pat Waak CT: Nancy DiNardo DE: John D. Daniello FL: Karen Thurman GA: Bobby Kahn	HI: Mike McCartney ID: Richard H. Stallings IL: Michael J. Madigan IN: Dan Parker IA: Sally Pederson KS: Lawrence Gates KY: Jerry Lundergan LA: Christopher Whittington ME: Ben Dudley MD: Terry Lierman	MA: Phillip Johnston MI: Mark Brewer MN: Brian Melendez MS: Wayne Dowdy MO: Roger B. Wilson MT: Dennis McDonald NE: Steve Achelpol NV: Tom Collins NH: Kathy Sullivan NJ: Joseph Cryan	NM: John Wertheim NY: Denny Farrell, Jr. NC: Jerry Meek ND: David Strauss OH: Chris Redfern OK: Lisa Pryor OR: Jim Edmunson PA: T.J. Rooney RI: Bill Lynch SC: Joe Erwin	SD: Judith Olson Duhamel TN: Gray Sasser TX: Boyd Richie UT: Wayne Holland VT: Peter Mallary VA: C. Richard Cranwell WA: Dwight Pelz WV: Nick Casey WI: Joe Wineke WY: Mike Gierau