Upton Fisher to file to succeed Michele Rayner in HD 62

Legislative aide Upton Fisher will file for his boss’ seat in the Florida Legislature. The Tampa Bay Democrat will file Monday morning to succeed Rep. Michele Rayner in House District 62.

The Navy veteran promised to continue to fight for his constituents against the right-wing agenda of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration and the GOP supermajority in the Florida Legislature.

“I can be the young, youthful face that will go after Ron DeSantis and all his extreme tactics, his bully-tacting and everything he has going on right now,” Fisher said.

That will make him the third Democrat filing in the blue seat. He faces political organizer Kyandra Darling and former Rep. Wengay Newton in a Democratic Primary next year.

But Fisher will run as an heir apparent of sorts to Rayner, who announced in December she will run in Senate District 16 to succeed term-limited Sen. Darryl Rouson.

Fisher has worked as Rayner’s district aide for the last two years. He was offered that job after reaching out to Rayner as a mentor at Just Elementary School in Tampa. Seeing the school rely heavily on substitute teachers while struggling with budget issues, he lobbied Rayner to bring more resources to the community’s schools and families.

“Kids can’t thrive in this environment,” he said. “So I wanted to know how we could get funding to help these kids out.”

Before working as a mentor at the school, Fisher served four years in the U.S. Navy, including back-to-back deployments on the U.S.S. Boxer. He spent several months in Japan during his military service and continues to work on contract for the Department of Defense.

He also earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Florida A&M University.

Fisher also currently cares for his grandmother, in addition to his work with constituents in the district. That gives him a broad understanding of the needs of the region and state, he said.

“I know the importance of Social Security and Medicaid, and seeing those things played with is a problem,” he said. He added that Republican policies are negatively impacting the state’s affordability.