Amber Mariano (politician)

Amber Mariano (born October 18, 1995) is an American politician serving in the Florida House of Representatives. A member of the Florida Republican Party, she was first elected to the Florida legislature in 2016 while still a student at the University of Central Florida. At 21, she was the youngest representative ever elected.[1] She was reelected in 2018.[2][3]

Amber Mariano
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 36th district
Assumed office
November 8, 2016
Preceded byAmanda Murphy
Personal details
Born (1995-10-18) October 18, 1995
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceHudson, Florida
Alma materUniversity of Central Florida (B.A.)
ProfessionReal Estate Agent

She is the daughter of Jack Mariano, a Pasco County Commissioner.[4]

Elections

Mariano ran a campaign centered around higher education and local flooding issues. Her campaign featured endorsements from then-Governor Rick Scott and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. In November she defeated incumbent Democratic Representative Amanda Murphy. She won 50.5% to 49.5%, or by roughly 719 votes. This made her the youngest representative elected to the Florida House.[5]

She was re-elected comfortably in 2018- 58.8% to 41.2%.[6]

Age

Rep. Mariano has been open about the challenges of running for office at a young age. She was profiled in Cosmopolitan, where she spoke about the issues she faced while campaigning. She recalled how members of her opponents team negatively engaged with her at polling locations, making comments on how she had not yet graduated and demeaningly calling her "little girl".[7]

In her re-election effort in 2018, her opponent Linda Jack called her a nice person who "was still too young to have this job".[8] She went on to defeat Jack by more than 17 points.

References
  1. Waxler, Eric. "21-year-old becomes youngest elected to Florida House". ABC Action News. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  2. "Lawmakers could ease up on 'excess' credit hours". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. 29 July 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  3. "Republican Amber Mariano defeats Amanda Murphy in HD 36 - SaintPetersBlog". SaintPetersBlog. 8 November 2016.
  4. http://saintpetersblog.com/republican-amber-mariano-defeats-amanda-murphy-hd-36/
  5. Bowen, C.T. "Youth schools experience in Pasco race for Florida House District 36". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  6. Bowen, C.T. "Florida House 36: Incumbent Amber Mariano wins second term over Linda Jack". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  7. Koman, Tess; Mariano, Amber. "I Got Rejected From Harvard. Then I Won a State Election". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  8. Bowen, C.T. "In House 36, it's youthful incumbent vs. life-experienced activist". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
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