Gwen Graham

Gwendolyn Graham (born January 31, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for FL's 2nd congressional district from 2015 to 2017.

She is the daughter of Bob Graham, the former United States senator and governor of Florida.

She has lived in Tallahassee since 1978, when her father became Governor of Florida.

Graham graduated from Leon High School in 1980.

She has Lebanese (from her maternal grandfather) and Scots-Irish ancestry.

Graham received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984 and her Juris Doctor from American University's Washington College of Law in 1988.

After law school, she worked as an associate at the Andrews & Kurth law firm in Washington, D.C.

In 2003, Graham joined her father's 2004 presidential campaign.

When he dropped out of the race following a heart attack, Graham joined Howard Dean's presidential campaign, before ultimately helping coordinate John Kerry's unsuccessful campaign efforts in Florida.

Graham worked for Leon County Schools as an administrator, including as director of employee relations.

Graham was ranked as the ninth most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 114th United States Congress in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School.

On a scale of zero to one hundred, Graham scores eight as a lifetime rating by the conservative lobbying organization, American Conservative Union.

In 2013, Graham announced her candidacy against incumbent Republican Congressman Steve Southerland in 2014.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced they would target the race and provide support to Graham.

Graham was one of just two Democrats in the entire country to defeat an incumbent Republican that year, beating Southerland in the November election by more than 2,800 votes.

Prior to her swearing in, Graham said both parties need new leadership in Congress and that she would not vote for Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House.

Graham voted for Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee instead.

Graham voted for Cooper again when the House voted on the new Speaker after John Boehner announced his resignation.

She also scores a 0 on the 2016 Freedom Works ratings, which is associated with the Tea Party movement.

Graham advocated for congressional reforms, including legislation to prohibit members of Congress from using federal funds to pay for first-class airfare and a bill to prevent future government shutdowns.

Graham introduced and passed legislation to help Israel develop an anti-tunneling defense system to detect, map, and destroy tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Graham joined Florida Democrats Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, and Alcee Hastings in opposing the Iran nuclear deal.

Graham voted repeatedly to defend the Affordable Care Act from repeal and supported fixes to the law.

She supports the legalization of medical marijuana and the decriminalization of recreational marijuana in Florida.

Graham is pro-choice with a 100% ranking from Planned Parenthood and she supports same-sex marriage and LGBT equality, with a 100% ranking from the Human Rights Campaign.

Graham supports comprehensive immigration reform.

She voted to protect the DACA program for young immigrants.

She supports bipartisan legislation to grant permanent legal status to refugees of the Haiti earthquake.

She voted to place more stringent safeguards on refugee vetting.

Graham supports gun control.

In Congress, she joined Congressman John Lewis in the sit-in against gun violence.

She co-sponsored legislation to strengthen background checks and prevent those on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.

On the environment, Graham co-sponsored bipartisan legislation with Congressman David Jolly and Senator Bill Nelson to oppose oil drilling off the beaches of Florida.

She rallied almost the entire Florida Congressional delegation to support the Apalachicola Bay Restoration Act.

She has voted for the Keystone XL pipeline, based on studies that showed the pipeline would generate less greenhouse gases than transporting the oil by rail, truck, and barge.

Graham voted in favor of having the Environmental Protection Agency re-examine its Waters of the United States rule with more input from those it would affect.

Graham supported Florida counties in their campaigns against fracking in Florida.

A Democrat, she was a candidate in the 2018 Democratic primary for Florida governor.

Graham is currently assistant secretary of education for legislation and congressional affairs in the Biden administration.

Graham was born in Miami Lakes, Florida, to Bob the former Governor and US Senator and Adele (née Khoury) Graham.