Anna Vishkaee Eskamani is an American politician who is the member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 47th district in Orange County. She is the first Iranian American in the Florida legislature. A Democrat, she supports legalized abortion, gun control, and environmental regulations such as a ban on plastic bags. She has worked for Planned Parenthood.
Early life
Eskamani was born in Orlando, Florida to parents who immigrated to the United States from Iran. Eskamani has an older brother Arya and a twin sister Ida. In 2004, Eskamani's mother died of colon cancer.
Education
Eskamani attended University High School in Orlando, Florida. She participated in after school technical theatre and graduated in 2008. She received two bachelor's degrees in 2012 and two master's degrees in 2015 from the University of Central Florida. She also earned two certificates and taught at UCF as an adjunct professor. She is pursuing a PhD at UCF in Public Affairs. In 2020 she was selected by the University of Central Florida as a member of their Distinguished Alumnus, the highest annual honor UCF Alumni bestows upon a graduate.
Political career
Planned Parenthood
According to Eskamani, she first became involved with Planned Parenthood as a patient in 2008. With abstinence-only education at her public school, she turned to Planned Parenthood for information about family planning and reproductive health. From there, Eskamani began volunteering at her local Planned Parenthood affiliate, and in 2012 was hired to serve as a Development Coordinator. She worked at Planned Parenthood for six years, rising to become the organization's Senior Director of Public Affairs and Communications for the merged affiliate known as Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida.
On July 3, 2017, Eskamani announced her candidacy for the 47th district seat in the Florida House of Representatives. She ran for the open seat vacated by RepublicanMike Miller, who had served two terms in the district and before announcing a run for Congress. On December 20, 2017, Eskamani faced two Republican opponents in a primary and one Democratic opponent who did not live in the district, and would eventually withdraw from the race after Eskamani filed a lawsuit challenging his legitimacy as a candidate. Over the course of her 2018 campaign, Eskamani received endorsements from prominent community leaders, organizations, and politicians. This included President Barack Obama, Orlando MayorBuddy Dyer, Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, Equality Florida, AFL-CIO, and the Florida Professional Firefighters State Association. Eskamani identifies as a progressive Democrat, and focused her campaign on enhancing public education, protecting the environment, ensuring health care access and prioritizing gun control legislation. During her campaign, Eskamani gained national media attention for her advocacy on women's issues and gun control legislation. Pulse nightclub is located in Florida's 47th district, and Eskamani would speak to issues of gun violence often. She would be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, in The Atlantic, the New York Times, The Independent, by MTV News, Teen Vogue, and in a Vice News documentary series. The Orlando Sentinel described Eskamani's as one of the most contentious races in the area. Her Republican opponent, Stockton Reeves VI, sent out at least twenty-five pieces of mail alongside three television ads that were negative towards Eskamani. Eskamani addressed each attack directly. Despite being a first time candidate, Eskamani raised more than $522,000 for her campaign. Eskamani was elected in the general election on November 6, 2018, winning 57 percent of the vote over 43 percent of Republican candidate Stockton Reeves. With this victory, Eskamani would become the first Iranian-American to serve in the Florida Legislature.
2019 Florida legislative session
Eskamani was appointed to serve on four legislative committees in the Florida House of Representatives: Local, Federal & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, Oversight, Transparency & Public Management Subcommittee, PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee, and Ways & Means Committee. During the first week of legislative committee meetings in Tallahassee, Eskamani made a public decision to not attend a freshman reception hosted by Associated Industries of Florida. Eskamani was quoted as saying, "I didn't come here for ritzy parties". During the 2019 legislative session, Eskamani was featured by the Tampa Bay Times as being on the front lines of the abortion debate. She was also a leader for the failed attempt to run out the clock on legislation that would define sanctuary city policies in Florida law. When a woman who alleged domestic violence was charged with armed burglary and grand theft for entering into her husband's locked apartment and taking his guns into the Lakeland, Florida police in June 2019, Eskamani tweeted that an arrest was "ridiculous" in this kind of situation. She sent a letter stating to State Attorney Brian Haas stating “Prosecuting Ms. Irby sets a scary precedent that if someone seeks help to escape abuse, they will be punished for it.” The State Attorney’s Office dropped all charges for both parties who were involved in a highly emotional contested divorce action in order for them to resolve their issues in a family law court. Eskamani is an advocate for public education, school safety, and environmental protection. Eskamani sponsored ten bills herself and co-sponsored more than sixty. She also succeeded in securing $80,000 for a Central Florida nonprofit focused on human trafficking prevention called The Lifeboat Project.
