Alachua County is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census,the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville,the home of the University of Florida since 1906,when the campus opened with 106 students.
Alachua is the second-largest city in Alachua County,Florida and the third-largest in North Central Florida. According to the 2020 census,the city's population was 10,574. Alachua has one of the largest bio and life sciences sectors in Florida and is the site for the Santa Fe College Perry Center for Emerging Technologies.
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County,Florida,and the most populous city in North Central Florida,with a population of 145,214 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area,which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.
Rodney Warren Smith is an American politician from the U.S. state of Florida. A Democrat,Smith was a member of the Florida Senate from Gainesville from 2001 until 2006. Smith ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Florida in the 2006 election but lost to Congressman Jim Davis. In 2010,Smith was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Florida as the running mate of Alex Sink in her campaign for Governor of Florida. From November 2010 through January 2013 Smith served as chairman of the Florida Democratic Party. In 2016,Smith again ran for a seat in the Florida Senate but was ultimately defeated by Keith Perry,a Republican and former state representative.
The 2006 Florida gubernatorial election took place on November 7,2006. Incumbent Republican Governor Jeb Bush was term-limited,and could not run for reelection to a third consecutive term. The election was won by then-Republican Charlie Crist,the state's Attorney General. The election was notable in that for the first time,the state elected a Republican governor in three consecutive elections.
Karen Lee Loveland Thurman is a former U.S. Representative from Florida,serving five consecutive terms from 1993 to 2003. She is a Democrat and served as chair of the Florida Democratic Party from 2005 to 2010.
Josiah Thomas Walls was a United States congressman who served three terms in the U.S. Congress between 1871 and 1876. He was one of the first African Americans in the United States Congress elected during the Reconstruction Era,and the first black person to be elected to Congress from Florida. He also served four terms in the Florida Senate.
Alachua County Public Schools is a public school district serving Alachua County in North Central Florida. It serves approximately 29,845 students in 64 schools and centers.
Santa Fe College is a public college based in Gainesville,Florida,with satellite campuses in Alachua and Bradford counties. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1965 as Santa Fe Junior College by the Florida Legislature and began offering classes in September 1966. As of Fall 2020,the school had an enrollment of 12,607 students,and offers associate and baccalaureate degree programs.
Jesse Johnson Finley was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida,following the reconstruction era. He also served as mayor of Memphis,Tennessee;an volunteer officer in the United States Army during the Second Seminole War;a member of the Arkansas Senate;a member of the Florida Senate;and a Circuit Court Judge in Florida.
The Alachua County Library District (ALCD) is an independent special taxing district and the sole provider of public library service to approximately 280,000 citizens of Alachua County,Florida. This includes all of the incorporated municipalities in the county. It maintains a Headquarters Library and four other branches in Gainesville. There are branch locations in seven of the eight other incorporated municipalities in the county. ACLD also operates a branch at the county jail,and two bookmobiles.
Steve Oelrich is an American law enforcement officer and former Republican member of the Florida Senate from 2006 to 2012,where he represented the 14th District,which included Alachua,Bradford,Columbia,Gilchrist,Levy,Marion,Putnam,and Union counties.
Cynthia Moore Chestnut is an American Democratic politician who served on the Gainesville,Florida City Commission from 1987 to 1989 and as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1990 to 2000,representing the 23rd District. After unsuccessfully running for the Florida Senate in 2000,Chestnut was elected to the Alachua County Commission in 2002,where she served until she lost re-election in 2010.
Charles S. "Chuck" Chestnut IV is a Democratic politician who currently serves as an Alachua County Commissioner,representing the 5th District from 2012 to the present. Prior to being elected to the Alachua County Commission,Chestnut served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2012,representing the 96th District.
Leonard G. Dennis was a Reconstruction-era political boss in Alahuca County,Florida,best known for his role in throwing the 1876 presidential election to the Republican candidate,Rutherford B. Hayes.
Warren "Keith" Perry is a Republican member of the Florida Senate,representing the 9th district,encompassing Alachua,Putnam,and part of Marion County in North Central Florida,since 2016. He also served in the Florida House of Representatives,representing the 22nd district from 2010 to 2012 and the 21st district from 2012 to 2016.
Lauren Poe is an American politician and former mayor of Gainesville,Florida,where he has lived since 1982. He served as mayor from 2016 to 2023,as well as city commissioner from 2013 to 2016.
Henry S. Harmon was an attorney and politician in Florida after the Civil War. He was the first African-American to be admitted to the bar in Florida.
Edward L. "Ed" Jennings,Jr.,is a Democratic politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2006,representing the 23rd District. After unsuccessfully running for the Florida Senate in 2006,Jennings was appointed as the Regional Director for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Alachua County Labor Coalition (ACLC) is a nonprofit organization in Alachua County,Florida,that advocates for working people. The organization was formerly known as the Alachua County Labor Party and traces its roots to the national Labor Party's call in 1996 for a new political party as a reaction to the conservative,neoliberal New Democrat movement.
