Dear Friend,
We did it — we made it through 2021.
As Floridians, this was a year of grit and grace, a year of resilience and resistance. It began with the January 6th insurrection but did not stop there. Governor Ron DeSantis has brought the Trump agenda to Florida, pursuing policies that make it harder to vote, protest, and implement COVID-19 safety protocols. He also attacked the LGBTQ+ community from every direction, targeting trans kids, vetoing funding for Pulse survivors and Zebra Coalition, and even going as far as removing LGBTQ+ anti-bullying resources from the Florida Department of Education’s website. He’s gone after local control, handed out corporate tax breaks, done nothing to stop polluters, and continues to privatize public education while not addressing the low salaries that way too many of our public workers are paid.Â
Meanwhile, everyday people continue to struggle with everything from missing unemployment benefits to delays in rental assistance and P-EBT dollars to COVID-19 testing. Florida families deserve elected officials who are fighting for them — and that’s exactly who we are and what we do.Â
Our team hasn’t missed a beat. From the first days of 2021, we remained focused on delivering stellar constituent services for House District 47 and for any Floridian who contacts our legislative office.
Many of you have helped us in that endeavor, by making donations to those in need, through data entry and helping us organize and respond to the thousands of messages we received each month. I am proud to say that we’ve continued to deliver results on the ground and have hosted more than 42 virtual events focused on specific issues that Floridians are facing, from affordable housing to health care and mental health to environmental protection. We’ve also hosted vaccine drives, community clean ups, and outreach events.
As we stay connected to our community, we’ve also been challenging the status quo in Tallahassee. And I don’t mean that as a cliche statement — I mean we’ve actually filed bills and amplified issues to confront some of the most powerful special interests in the state. We’ve spoken out in moments when no one else would, and we’ve continuously stayed true to our values of being people-centered. We organized one of the largest rallies in support of abortion rights in Orlando history, and we are bringing that energy with us to Tallahassee.
We also launched two different political initiatives this year. First was our re-election campaign, which we kicked off with the Jedi Master himself, Mark Hamill (I know, I’m still in shock about how cool that was myself!). Then we announced our own voter registration initiative called People Power for Florida. Together through this new organization, we’ve registered and updated the registration of nearly 1,000 Floridians. We’ve trained 247 volunteers to lead their own voter-registration drives, too.
Our collective impact has not gone unnoticed. This year, we received recognition from both Orlando Weekly and Orlando Magazine, with readers nominating us as the Best Local Politician and in the top five of Orlando’s 50 Most Powerful People of 2021. Our policy ideas have been endorsed by the Orlando Sentinel, and we received two awards: one for our focus on public education and the other for our leadership on worker’s rights.Â
Of course, none of this would be possible without your incredible love and support. Together we can accomplish anything, it just takes consistent persistence to remain focused on a goal that is greater than ourselves. You give us the strength, courage and resources to do just that.Â
As we enter the end of 2021, I want to take a moment to honor the lives of loved ones who are no longer with us. Remember: death ends a life, but not a relationship. And we must honor those no longer with us through action.Â
Onward together,
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani