Gen Z Democrat Bree Wallace to challenge Traci Koster in HD 66

A Democrat has filed to run in House District 66, the north Hillsborough County-based district currently held by Republican Rep. Traci Koster, who is seeking re-election.

Bree Wallace, a 27-year-old who works as the director of case management for the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund, has entered the race. Tampa Bay Abortion Fund is a nonprofit organization that helps remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion care, including financial assistance for local procedures or for travel assistance for those needing to leave the state due to Florida’s current 15-week abortion ban, which in less than a month will be a more restrictive 6-week ban.

Wallace told Florida Politics that she decided to run after seeing Koster was unopposed.

“Everyone deserves to have someone to vote for in every race down the ticket,” she said.

She also wants to ensure more young people and women are reflected at the ballot box.

“We know that people often vote more when they feel represented and oftentimes young people aren’t on our ballots,” Wallace said. “Young people are our future and I believe we should be in all areas of office making sure what we care about is heard.”

Wallace’s platform centers on reproductive rights, affordable housing — including property taxes and insurance — the climate crisis, public education, LGBTQ+ rights and gun safety.

She pointed to the area’s affordability crisis, with “people … being forced to leave” because they can’t afford the cost of living on everything from rent to mortgage.

Plus, she said, “Tampa is a city where having a car is pretty much a necessity, and car insurance here has skyrocketed.”

“I want my community to be able to thrive where they are, but we’re seeing people living paycheck to paycheck and forced to move out of homes they’ve been in for years,” Wallace said.

She lamented that instead of focusing on improving those conditions for residents, the current leadership is “taking away people’s fundamental rights, making it illegal to be homeless, and trying to put laws into place that harm the LGBTQ+ community.”

Wallace will have an uphill climb in HD 66. It’s a fairly red district, with more than 46,000 Republican voters and fewer than 35,000 Democrats. But like most districts that lean one way or the other, the district is also home to a sizable number of independent voters, in this case nearly 31,000 of them. Those voters could shift the tide in an otherwise red area, and the abortion issue could be a motivating factor.

With the Florida Supreme Court’s triple rulings this week on abortion and recreational cannabis, political insiders are anticipating the potential for high Democratic turnout.

Justices OK’d two ballot initiatives — one that would enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution and another that would legalize cannabis for recreational use among adults. The court also upheld Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, which triggers a more restrictive six-week ban, essentially outlawing the procedure statewide.

As someone who works directly in the abortion space, Wallace said she’s seen firsthand how lack of access affects women and families.

“We need people in office who aren’t going to strip away people’s fundamental rights,” Wallace said, adding that people are leaving the state to escape not just the abortion restrictions, but other “outrageous laws.”

“I’m staying here to try and fight for my district and show them they have someone who cares. Someone who has their best interest in mind,” she added.

Wallace has worked with the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund since 2022, where she helps clients navigate barriers to abortion access and obtain funding assistance to cover costs. She began volunteering with the organization in 2020 before accepting a staff position. (Wallace notes that the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund is her employer and has not endorsed her candidacy.)

She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida in sociology and communications.

Wallace also volunteers with the North Tampa Democrats and the LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus. She previously volunteered with Lutheran Services as a refugee mentor.

She also started the Tampa Period Pantry, which provides free menstrual hygiene products to those in need, last August. The project has since expanded to seven locations and more are expected.

Wallace has lived in the district since she was 5 years old and attended Claywell Elementary School, Ben Hill Middle School and Gaither High School. She’s a first-generation college graduate.