Drew Wilson
Former Miami Beach City Commissioner Deede Weithorn announced Monday that she will run for the House District 113 seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. David Richardson, who is running for congress.
“The people of our district need a Democratic champion on the issues most important to our everyday lives,” Weithorn said in a press release. ”Here in South Florida, these issues aren’t just traffic and over-development — they’re also the very real threats of climate change and sea-level rise, as well as confronting the opioid epidemic and improving access to high-quality public education.”
The University of Florida alumna and CPA highlighted Miami Beach’s bond score improving from an ‘A’ to a ‘AA’ during her two terms on the city commission and said she plans to be a “get things done representative in Tallahassee.”
“For me, it’s all about delivering results,” she said.
Weithorn opened her campaign account on July 18 and is the second Democrat to enter the race after Jeff Cynamon, who filed on June 8. Cynamon, an attorney, did not report any contributions for his campaign in his first month in the race.
Weithorn filed to run for HD 113 in the 2016 election cycle but ultimately withdrew once Richardson decided he would run for re-election rather than run for Florida Senate.
HD 113 covers southeastern Miami-Dade, including Miami Beach and North Bay Village. It is a reliably left-leaning district, with about double the number of registered Democrats as Republicans.
Richardson faced his first GOP challenger in the 2016 election cycle. He easily triumphed over Republican Jonathan Parker with 65 percent of the vote.
