Christine Hunschofsky

Hunschofsky grew up in Boston, and graduated from Boston University with a focus on Business Administration and Philosophy.[3]

After Moving to Parkland, Hunschofsky became involved with the community. She was a member of the Parkland Education Advisory Board for 7 years, wrote for Parkland Life Magazine, and was involved with the Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church.[3] She was elected City Commissioner in 2012 with 84 percent of the vote, and in 2016 ran for Mayor of Parkland and won with 76 percent of the vote.[3]

In 2020 she ran for Kristin Jacobs' vacated Florida House District 96 seat, receiving an endorsement from 2020 Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg,[4] as well as local officials such as Florida Senator Kevin Rader and Representatives Dan Daley, Michael Gottlieb, and Tina Polsky, in addition to many other Florida politicians, including many mayors.[5] She also received an endorsement from Fred Guttenberg, the father of one of the Parkland Shooting victims, who praised Hunschofsky for being "truly there for our community" and working "tirelessly to guide our city through its darkest days."[5] She won the primary election with 72.2% of the vote to her opponent Saima Farooqui's 20.7%, who also ran against Kristin Jacobs in 2018.[6] Hunschofsky faces no Republican opponent in the general election.

On February 14, 2018, a student opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland killing 17 people (14 students and 3 staff members), and injuring 17 others. After the shooting, Hunschofsky and other mayors went to Washington, D.C. to lobby the federal government for stricter background checks for those purchasing guns, and other gun control measures.[7][8] Their efforts were not successful, and no bill was passed at the time.

Hunschofsky spoke at a community event on the anniversary of the shooting, saying “While we are still healing, while a lot of this is still raw, to see the human spirit that we have here in Parkland, I think that’s the message. We might have been shaken but we refuse to be down for the count.”[9]