| Laurel Lee | |
| State: | Florida |
| Term Start: | January 3, 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Scott Franklin (redistricting) |
| Office1: | 30th Secretary of State of Florida |
| Governor1: | Ron DeSantis |
| Term Start1: | January 28, 2019 |
| Term End1: | May 16, 2022 |
| Predecessor1: | Mike Ertel |
| Successor1: | Cord Byrd |
| Office2: | Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida |
| Appointed2: | Rick Scott |
| Term Start2: | May 5, 2013 |
| Term End2: | January 28, 2019 |
| Predecessor2: | Daniel Sleet |
| Successor2: | Thomas Palermo |
| Birth Name: | Laurel Frances Moore |
| Birth Date: | 26 March 1974 |
| Birth Place: | Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, U.S. |
| Party: | Republican |
| Spouse: | Tom Lee |
| Children: | 3 |
| Education: | University of Florida (BA, JD) |
Laurel Frances Lee (née Moore; born March 26, 1974)[1] [2] is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representatives for Florida's 15th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, she was a judge on Florida's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit from 2013 to 2019 and was the 30th Secretary of State of Florida from 2019 to 2022.[3]
Lee began her legal career as an attorney for the Carlton Fields law firm in 2003 before becoming an assistant public defender in 2005.[4] Lee also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida from 2007 until her appointment by then-Governor Rick Scott to a judgeship on the Hillsborough County Circuit Court in 2013.[5] [6] She was unopposed for election to a full six-year term in 2014.[7]
Lee was appointed Florida Secretary of State by Governor Ron DeSantis on January 28, 2019, replacing Mike Ertel, who resigned after less than a month in office when a 2005 photo of him wearing blackface as part of a Halloween costume as a Hurricane Katrina victim surfaced.[8] [9]
In October 2020, weeks before the 2020 election, Lee sought to purge felons from voter rolls if they had outstanding court debts. Politico called the move "a surprise, late-hour move that comes after more than 2 million people already have voted in the presidential battleground." Lee's decision was not distributed to the wider public, only to local election officials.[10]
In December 2021, Lee made a criminal referral to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody seeking an investigation into potentially fraudulent signatures collected by Las Vegas Sands in a petition drive to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the November 2022 elections that would expand casino gambling.[11]
On May 12, 2022, Lee announced she was resigning effective four days later, seven months before the 2022 election. She did not offer a reason for resigning.[12] On May 17, she announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in in the 2022 elections.[13] She won the general election by a wide margin.
On July 29, 2024, Lee was announced as one of seven Republican members of a bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.[14]
For the 118th Congress:[15]
Lee is married to Tom Lee, a former member of the Florida Senate. They have three children. They live in Brandon, Florida.[16] Lee is Protestant.[17]
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