Al Lawson

Alfred James "Al" Lawson, Jr. (born September 21, 1948), is an American politician who is the U.S. Representative for Florida's 5th congressional district and is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to his election to the House of Representatives, he represented the 6th District in the Florida Senate, from 2000 through 2010 and the Florida House of Representatives from 1982 through 2000.
Lawson received his bachelor's degree from Florida A&M University, and his Master of Public Administration from Florida State University.

Campaigns for the U.S. House

2010

Lawson ran for the Democratic nomination in Florida's 2nd congressional district in 2010, challenging seven-term incumbent Allen Boyd. Lawson narrowly lost to Boyd in the Democratic primary, and Boyd lost to Republican newcomer Steve Southerland in the general election by more than 12 percentage points.

2012

Lawson ran again for the seat in 2012, and won the Democratic nomination against Blue Dog-endorsed state Rep. Leonard Bembry. He lost to incumbent Republican nominee Steve Southerland in the general election by less than 6 points.

2016

A lawsuit challenging the Florida congressional district map radically changed the 5th district. For the past quarter century, the district and its predecessors had covered most of the majority-black precincts from Jacksonville to Orlando. The new map, however, changed the district to an east-west configuration stretching from Tallahassee to downtown Jacksonville. Lawson announced he would run on December 15, 2015, setting up a battle against Corrine Brown, the only congresswoman the district had known since its creation in 1993.

On paper, the district's demographics appeared to be against Lawson. While the district now included most of Tallahassee, the capital and its suburbs only accounted for 32 percent of the district's population, while the Jacksonville area accounted for 61 percent.

However, his bid received a significant boost in July 2016, when Brown was indicted on federal corruption charges. He defeated Brown in the Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—on August 30, 2016. He then defeated Republican Glo Smith in the general election on November 8 with 64% of the vote.