George Moraitis

Last updated
George Moraitis
George Moraitis.jpg
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
In office
November 2, 2010 –November 6, 2018

George Moraitis was born in Fort Lauderdale, and he attended Fort Lauderdale High School before joining the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated with a degree in political science in 1992. Following his graduation, he served in the United States Navy from 1992 to 2000, where he received the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal, the Navy Expeditionary Medal, and the Navy Arctic Service Ribbon. In 2000, he retired from the Navy and joined the United States Navy Reserve, where he continues to serve, and attended the University of Florida College of Law, graduating with a law degree in 2002. Prior to running for office, Moraitis practiced real estate law in private practice for eight years. [1]

Florida House of Representatives

In 2010, incumbent Republican State Representative Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff declined to seek another term in the House, instead opting to run for the Florida State Senate. Moraitis ran to succeed her in the 91st District, which included eastern Broward County and a few precincts in southern Palm Beach County, and narrowly won the nomination of the Republican Party against David Maymon and Yomin Postelnik, winning 48% of the vote to Maymon's 46% and Postelnik's 6%. in the general election, Moraitis faced off against Barbra A. Stern, the Democratic nominee, whom he easily defeated, winning 63% of the vote.

When Florida House districts were redrawn in 2012, Moraitis opted to seek a second term in the 93rd District, which included most of the territory that he had represented in the 91st District, swapping the Boynton Beach sections in Palm Beach County for a larger portion of Broward County. He won the nomination of his party unopposed, and faced Democratic nominee Gerri Ann Capotosto in the general election. Moraitis and Capotosto adopted opposite positions on job creation, with Moraitis favoring a "focus on job creation by supporting programs such as economic incentives for businesses moving to Florida," while Capotosto favored investments in "Wi-Fi and electrical infrastructure to attract tech companies." [2] He was endorsed by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for re-election, which observed, "Moraitis would continue to push for state aid for Port Everglades, an economic engine for both the district and the larger region." [3] Ultimately, Moraitis was re-elected over Capotosto, receiving 55% of the vote.

In February 2018, after a mass school shooting in a nearby district in Broward County, Moraitis skipped a vote that would have brought HB 219 to the Florida House floor. The bill aimed to ban semiautomatic rifles like the one used to kill 17 people in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. [4]

In March 2018, Moraitis was the only Representative out of the 110 in the Florida House of Representatives that voted against a bill that prevented children under the age of 17 from marrying. The vote was 109-1. Moraitis, referring to the previous law permitting child marriage at any age in the event of pregnancy, was quoted as saying that the law was "very good, in my opinion, a very carefully crafted balance" and "there's literally only a handful of cases that would fall under what I would say are potentially abusive" as his reasons for voting against it. [5] The bill was the result of a campaign by a woman, Sherry Johnson, who had been forced to marry her rapist at the age of 11 after becoming pregnant. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broward County, Florida</span> County in Florida, United States

Broward County is a county in Florida, United States, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with 1,944,375 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and most populous city is Fort Lauderdale, which had a population of 182,760 as of 2020. The county is part of the South Florida region of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clay Shaw (politician)</span> American politician (1939–2013)

Eugene Clay Shaw Jr. was an American jurist and Republican politician who served as mayor of Fort Lauderdale and represented South Florida in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until 2007. He was defeated for re-election by Ron Klein in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff</span> American politician

Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Republican Party, Bogdanoff served as a member of the Florida Senate from the 25th District, running from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale, from 2010 to 2012. Prior to this, Bogdanoff served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 91st district from 2004 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Waldman</span> American Politician

James W. Waldman is a Democratic politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014, representing the 95th District from 2006 to 2012, and representing the 96th District, which included Coconut Creek, Margate, and Parkland in northeastern Broward County, from 2012 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Deutch</span> American politician and attorney (born 1966)

Theodore Eliot Deutch is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative from Florida's 22nd congressional district from 2010 to 2022. His district, numbered as the 19th district from 2010 to 2013 and as the 21st from 2013 to 2017, included much of northern Broward County and southern Palm Beach County in South Florida. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in 2010 after a special election following the resignation of Robert Wexler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Ryan (Florida politician)</span> American Politician

Timothy M. Ryan is an American attorney and Democratic politician who currently serves as a Broward County Commissioner, representing the 7th District from 2012 to the present. Prior to being elected to the Broward County Commission, Ryan served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1998 to 2006, representing the 99th District from 1998 to 2002, and the 100th District from 2002 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Stafford</span> American politician

Tracy Stafford served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1990 to 2000. He currently lives in Wilton Manors, Florida, where he also served as mayor from 1986 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Smith (Florida politician)</span> American politician

Christopher L. Smith was a Democratic member of the Florida Senate, who represented the 31st District, which includes eastern Broward County since 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Skidmore</span> American politician

Kelly Skidmore is a politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 90th District, from 2006 to 2008. A Democrat, she ran unsuccessfully for the Florida Senate in 2010 and again for the Florida House in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Rader (politician)</span> American politician (born 1968)

Kevin Rader is an American politician from Florida. A Democrat, he represented parts of northern Broward and southern Palm Beach Counties in the Florida House from 2008 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2016. He was elected to one term in the Florida Senate, serving from 2016 until he retired in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Sachs</span> American politician

Maria Lorts Sachs is a Democratic politician from Florida. She was a member of the Florida Senate from 2010 to 2016, representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Previously, she served two terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing part of southern Palm Beach County from 2006 until her election to the Senate. After her seat was redistricted in 2016, she opted not to seek reelection, and was hired as the executive director of Innovation Florida, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perry E. Thurston Jr.</span> American politician

Perry Eugene Thurston Jr. is an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Florida Senate from 2016 to 2022. He represented the 33rd district, which includes Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, North Lauderdale, Margate, Oakland Park, and surrounding areas in Broward County. He previously served four terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing the Fort Lauderdale area from 2006 to 2014, and was the House minority leader in his final term. Thurston was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of Florida in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lois Frankel</span> American politician & lawyer (born 1948)

Lois Jane Frankel is an American politician and lawyer who has been the United States representative for Florida's 22nd congressional district since 2023 and from 2013 to 2017 and Florida’s 21st congressional district from 2017 to 2023. As a member of the Democratic Party, Frankel was a 7-term member of the Florida House of Representatives and a two-term mayor of West Palm Beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irving Slosberg</span> American politician

Irving Slosberg is a former Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 91st District, which stretches from Boynton Beach to Boca Raton in southeastern Palm Beach County, from 2012 to 2016. Slosberg ran for state Senate twice: In 2006, when he lost a bid to the state Senate in the Democratic primary, and in 2016, when he again lost a bid to the state Senate in the Democratic primary, only earning 32% of the vote. He represented the 89th District from 2000 to 2002 and the 90th District from 2002 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2012. Slosberg returned to run for the State senate again, this time for district 29 being vacated by Kevin Rader, Slosberg lost to incumbent representative Tina Polsky in the primary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Edwards-Walpole</span> American politician

Katie A. Edwards-Walpole is a Democratic politician and a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 98th District, which includes parts of Davie, Plantation, and Sunrise in southern Broward County, from 2012 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby DuBose</span> American Politician

Bobby Brainard DuBose is an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 94th District, which includes most of Fort Lauderdale in central Broward County, from 2014 to 2022. DuBose served as minority leader with fellow Broward colleague as Evan Jenne co-leader for the 2020–2022 Legislature. On July 27, 2021, DuBose announced his resignation from the Florida House of Representatives, effective January 11, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stacy Ritter</span> American Politician

Stacy Ritter is a Democratic politician who currently serves as president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. Previously, she served as a Broward County Commissioner, representing the 3rd District from 2006 to the present. Prior to being elected to the Broward County Commission, Ritter served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1996 to 2004, representing the 96th District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Farmer (Florida politician)</span> American politician

Gary Michael Farmer Jr. is an American attorney and former Democratic politician from Florida. He served as a member of the Florida Senate from 2016 until 2022, representing parts of eastern Broward County. He was the Senate's minority leader from 2020 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Florida's 20th congressional district special election</span>

The 2022 Florida's 20th congressional district special election was a special election to the United States House of Representatives. The seat had been vacant since incumbent Democratic representative Alcee Hastings died on April 6, 2021, of pancreatic cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Bartleman</span> American politician and educator

Robin Bartleman is an American legislator and educator serving as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 103rd district. She assumed office on November 3, 2020. She is a Democrat, supporting affordable housing, resolving the state's property insurance crisis, dealing with flooding and increasing healthcare affordability.

References

  1. ↑ "George Moraitis-Ballotpedia". Ballotpedia . Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  2. ↑ Barkhurst, Ariel (October 15, 2012). "Candidates in race to represent northeastern Broward have same goal: create jobs". Sun-Sentinel . Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Re-elect Moraitis and Thurston". Sun-Sentinel . October 16, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ Torres, Andrea (2018-02-20). "Here is the list of the 71 who voted against bringing HB 219 to Florida House floor". WPLG . Miami, FL. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  5. 1 2 Farrington, Brendan (2018-03-10). "Forced to marry her rapist at 11, woman finally changes Florida marriage law". USA Today . AP. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
Florida House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 91st district
2010–2012		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 93rd district
2012–2018		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.