Anne GeggisWhat if you ran for Congress but only on the internet?
Democratic state Rep. Anika Omphroy hasn’t formally announced it, nor did she respond to a Florida Politics inquiry about it, but her campaign website now says, “Anika Omphroy for Congress.”
The two-term Representative from Broward County doesn’t say on her website which congressional seat she’s running for, but her Lauderdale Lakes address listed with the state elections department puts her in the district that elected U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus McCormick in January, Florida’s 20th Congressional District. It is a majority Black district that straddles Broward and Palm Beach counties.
One of the pages on Omphroy’s website is headlined: “Why now?”
“I want every resident of the district to be able to trust that their representative in Congress is accessible, genuinely listens to their concerns, and works as hard as ever to make their lives better,” it reads, after listing her bona fides as the youngest person elected to represent House District 95 and her success in bringing $16 million in “direct funds” to the area.
“I believe that every honest politician has three roles: servant, voice and strategist.”
Omphroy appointed a campaign treasurer and filed her intention to run for another term as a state Representative last February.
This past Session, she successfully introduced legislation (HB 543) that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed on April 6. It appropriated $802,000 that directs the Department of Health to develop and maintain an electronic database of information about uterine fibroids. It also requires health care providers to submit information about the condition to the Health Department.
She also championed appropriations for various local projects such as enhancements to a Tamarac park, a North Lauderdale fire/rescue training center and a Lauderhill lift station, among others.
But Omphroy is the target of an investigation ordered by DeSantis into the use of election funds she received in 2020. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office spokesperson said Thursday that the investigation is still open.
Omphroy also hasn’t filed a monthly campaign finance report since November.
If she’s running to represent the district she lives in, she would face a Primary contest with Cherfilus-McCormick and former Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, who lost by just five votes in the last Special Primary Election for the seat in November. That election was held because the former occupant, Democratic U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, died in office.
