Gabrielle Russon
Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a Democrat who represented Orlando in the Legislature for two decades and was a Black historian, died Thursday at age 76 from knee replacement surgery complications.
“Sen. Geraldine Thompson was a force — a trailblazer, a historian, a fierce advocate, and a devoted mother and grandmother who worked every day to uplift all Floridians, ensuring that no one was left behind,” U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost said in a statement. “For nearly 20 years in the Florida Legislature, she broke barriers and created opportunities, especially for Black and Brown communities and those too often overlooked. She paved the way for many, including myself, to step up and serve our communities.”
Thomson served in the House from 2006-2012 and then again from 2018-2022. She was a senator from 2012-2016 and then again in 2022, and she has been named the Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee on Pre-K — 12 Education.
Thompson was a person of strength and resilience from the beginning of her life. She was raised poor and became a mom at age 15 but continued her education, earning her bachelor’s degree at the University of Miami.
Thompson was once described as “at the epicenter of Black history in Orlando” by the Orlando Sentinel.
Thompson was the director of the Wells’Built Museum of American-American History in Orlando’s Parramore district.
Years ago, Thompson was known for taking people on bus tours of Black history in Orlando, writing a book on Orlando’s African American community, hosting Juneteenth events, and helping launch Orlando’s early celebrations to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
Thompson developed a reputation as formidable and with high standards who got things done.
“I hate to relinquish control of a project that is important to me,” she once told the Sentinel. “I want it done right, and I don’t have time to take two hours to explain it.”
In 2004, Thompson, 55, a political newcomer who had spent years getting involved in her community, decided to challenge Sen. Gary Siplin.
Siplin made headlines in the Orlando Sentinel for skipping televised debates. He claimed he was grieving a family member’s death, but he showed up at a cookout during one of the debates.
Thompson won the Sentinel’s endorsement.
None of that wasn’t enough for Thompson to beat the incumbent. She lost by 20 percentage points to Siplin in the Democratic Primary.
But Thompson didn’t give up and ran for the House in 2006. She won.
When Thompson, then an experienced legislator, turned her sights back on the Senate in 2012, she beat a Democratic opponent in the Primary with a familiar last name — Siplin’s wife.
Her political career took off as Thompson regularly won re-election in ongoing years. In her last victory, she crushed former state Sen. Randolph Bracy with 61% of the vote in 2024.
“Sen. Thompson’s passing is a profound loss for the Senate,” Senate President Ben Albritton said in a memo to lawmakers Thursday night. “Her watchful eye, cheerful smile, and thoughtful, well-researched, and spirited debate will be greatly missed.”
Albritton said the Senate will hold a memorial service to honor Thompson. According to her Senate biography, Thompson was married to Emerson Thompson and was the mother of three children and a grandmother of six.
One comment
Harold Finch
February 14, 2025 at 11:31 am
The Senator was an exceptional leader, advocate for the under privileged and always true to her word. She was also one of the few women who was born into poverty and pregnant at 15 who was one in a thousand minority women to overcome her situation.
Over 85% of black girls born in poverty who become pregnant in their teens, do anything but perpetuate genrational poverty and contribute to the juvenile and young adult crime rates in the US.
Five years ago, then Senate President Wilton Simpson sponsored legislation to fund free birth control and family counseling as a step toward reducung the outrageous pregenancy rate of minority teenagers and young adults.
Unfortuneately Gov DeSantis in his very shortsighted and stupidity vetoed the funding.
If we as a state and a country, want to end generational poverty, black on black crime, prison’s full of black priosoners, and work toward ncome equality, it has start with changing the teenage, unewed, and women in poverty!