Scott Powers
State Sen. Geraldine Thompson is offering up her life stories to voters in Florida’s Congressional District 10 Democratic primary race, starting with a story about her mother’s struggles to raise a family.
Thompson’s piece on her mother, the late Annie Fortenberry, tells of how the single mom raised a big family supported by agricultural and construction jobs in south Dade County, while encouraging them to get educations. The piece, posted on her campaign website and shared through social media, mixes remembrances with statements of her own efforts in the Florida Legislature and policy goals if she gets elected to Congress.
Thompson is in a battle for the Aug. 30 Democratic primary to represent west Orange County in Congress, with former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings, businessman Bob Poe and lawyer Fatima Rita Fahmy. The winner would face Republican nominee Thuy Lowe.
She said she plans to add a couple of items a week to the series, called “My Journey.”
“I think people [in politics] see one side of you and they don’t necessarily get to the humanity we all share. This is the objective: for them to see me in ways they see themselves,” she said.
The debut piece discusses the long hours, wage theft and injuries she saw her extended family members endure to make ends meet, and describes how her mother pushed her towards opportunities her uncles and aunts could never reach.
“I remember the pride in my mother’s eyes when I became the first in my family to graduate from college, and I have worked throughout my life to help thousands of other students become the first in their families to graduate as well,” writes Thompson, a former community college professor. “This is why once I am elected to Congress I will fight to make community college free to all students, reduce the loan debt that our graduates face, and improve the infrastructure in our primary and secondary schools so that students are equipped to succeed.”
