Tom Keen | |
State House: | Florida |
District: | 35th |
Term Start: | January 16, 2024 |
Predecessor: | Fred Hawkins |
Birth Name: | Charles Thomas Keen III |
Birth Date: | 9 April 1956 |
Birth Place: | Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
Party: | Democratic |
Spouse: | Laura |
Children: | 2 |
Education: | University of Cincinnati (BA) |
Charles Thomas Keen III (born April 9, 1956)[1] is an American politician, businessman, and former military pilot who is a member of the Florida House of Representatives, having won a January 2024 special election. A member of the Democratic Party, he represents the 35th district, located in central Florida, southeast of Orlando, and includes parts of the counties of Orange and Osceola.
Keen has a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati.[2]
Keen served as a naval flight officer for the United States Navy for 21 years, and worked as a manager at Collins Aerospace at the time of his election to the state legislature.[2] [3]
After an unsuccessful campaign for the 35th district of the Florida House of Representatives in 2022, in which he lost the primary by a mere 57 votes, in May 2023, Keen announced his candidacy for a special election to succeed State Representative Fred Hawkins, who resigned to become president of South Florida State College.[3] On November 7, 2023, he won the Democratic primary in what was considered an upset, as he had been outraised by his two opponents.[4] Both parties heavily invested into winning the special election, due to Hawkins's 11-point re-election win in 2022, while President Joe Biden had won the district by five points in 2020. Keen received the endorsement of the Orlando Sentinel during the campaign.[5] In the special election on January 16, 2024, Keen defeated Republican nominee Erika Booth by roughly 2.6 percentage points, in a flip for his party.[3] [6]
Keen and his wife, Laura, have two adult children, and reside in Lake Nona, Orlando, Florida.[2] [7]