Gary Farmer (Florida politician)


Gary Michael Farmer Jr. is a Democratic politician and attorney from Florida. He has served as a member of the Florida Senate since 2016, representing parts of eastern Broward County.. He is designated to succeed Audrey Gibson as Minority Leader for the Florida Senate in the 2020-2022 legislative session where he will be succeeded by Perry Thurston

Life and career

Farmer was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He attended Florida State University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1986. Afterwards, he attended the University of Toledo College of Law, graduating in 1991. He returned to Florida to practice law, and founded the law firm Farmer, Jaffe, Weissing, Edwards, Fistos and Lehrman, specializing in consumer protection litigation.
He was the president of the Florida Justice Association, a trade group of trial lawyers, from 2012 to 2013.

Florida Senate

Electoral history

When court-ordered redistricting resulted in an open Florida Senate seat based in eastern Broward County in 2016, Farmer decided to run for the seat. He faced former state Representative Jim Waldman and state Representative Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed in the Democratic primary. Farmer won with 43% of the vote to Waldman's 28% and Clarke-Reed's 29%. It was the most expensive Florida Senate primary that year, with Farmer raising hundreds of thousands of dollars primarily from law firms and trial attorneys, and Waldman getting financial support from insurance companies, gambling interests, and other industry groups.
Farmer won the 2016 general election with 63% of the vote against Republican Antoanet Iotova.
Farmer is running for reelection in the 2018 elections, and will face Waldman again in the Democratic primary.

Committees

In the Senate, Farmer serves on the Banking and Insurance Committee, the Education Committee, the Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee, and the Appropriations Subcommittees on PreK-12 Education and Higher Education.