Anna Eskamani

Anna Vishkaee Eskamani (born May 20, 1990) is an American politician who is the member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 47th district in Orange County.

Eskamani was born in Orlando, Florida to parents who immigrated to the United States from Iran. Eskamani has an older brother Arya, and a twin sister Ida. Eskamani's family was working class, with both of her parents working multiple jobs to make financial ends meet. In 2004, Eskamani's mother died of colon cancer.

Eskamani attended University High School in Orlando, Florida. She participated in after school technical theatre and graduated in 2008. She graduated with two bachelor's degrees in 2012 and two master's degrees in 2015 from the University of Central Florida (UCF). She also earned two certificates and taught at UCF as an adjunct professor. She is pursuing a PhD at UCF in Public Affairs.

Campus organizing

Eskamani first began to become more engaged in advocacy work as a student at UCF with the UCF Arboretum, focusing on sustainability efforts, then with international human rights through her involvement with the Iranian Student Organization, and then on domestic policy issues as an organizational leader with the College Democrats at UCF. Eskamani served as the organization's Vice President and as the Women's Caucus Chair for Florida College Democrats. These experiences also resulted in Eskamani's focus on women's issues and volunteerism with community groups like Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood

Eskamani first became involved with Planned Parenthood as a patient in 2008. With abstinence-only education at her public school, she turned to Planned Parenthood for information about family planning and reproductive health. From there, Eskamani began volunteering at her local Planned Parenthood affiliate, and in 2012 was hired to serve as a Development Coordinator. She worked at Planned Parenthood for six years, rising to become the organization's Senior Director of Public Affairs and Communications for the merged affiliate known as Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida.

2018 Florida House of Representatives campaign

On July 3, 2017, Eskamani announced her candidacy for the 47th district seat in the Florida House of Representatives. She ran to take back the seat for Democrats from Republican Mike Miller. Miller, who had served two terms in the district, chose to run for Congress days earlier, making District 47 an open seat. On December 20, 2017, Eskamani qualified for the ballot by collecting the required number of petitions. At one point, Eskamani faced two Republican opponents in a primary and one Democratic opponent who filed last minute to challenge her. This Democrat did not live in the district, and would eventually withdraw from the race after Eskamani filed a lawsuit challenging his legitimacy as a candidate.

Over the course of her 2018 campaign, Eskamani received endorsements from prominent community leaders, organizations, and politicians. This included President Barack Obama, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, Equality Florida, AFL-CIO, and the Florida Professional Firefighters State Association.

Eskamani identifies as a progressive Democrat, and focused her campaign on enhancing public education, protecting the environment, ensuring health care access and prioritizing gun safety legislation.

During her campaign, Eskamani gained national media attention for her advocacy on women's issues and gun safety legislation. Pulse nightclub is located in Florida's 47th district, and Eskamani would speak to issues of gun violence often. She would be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, in The Atlantic, the New York Times, The Independent, by MTV News, Teen Vogue, and in a Vice News documentary series.

The Orlando Sentinel described Eskamani's as one of the most contentious races in the area. Her Republican opponent, Stockton Reeves VI, sent out at least twenty-five pieces of mail alongside three television ads that were negative towards Eskamani. Eskamani addressed each attack directly. Despite being a first time candidate, Eskamani raised more than $522,000 for her campaign.

Eskamani was elected in the general election on November 6, 2018, winning 57 percent of the vote over 43 percent of Republican candidate Stockton Reeves. With this victory, Eskamani would become the first Iranian-American to serve in the Florida Legislature.

2019 Florida legislative session

Eskamani has been appointed to serve on four legislative committees in the Florida House of Representatives. They include Local, Federal & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, Oversight, Transparency & Public Management Subcommittee, PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee, and Ways & Means Committee.

During the first week of legislative committee meetings in Tallahassee, Eskamani made a public decision to not attend a freshman reception hosted by Associated Industries of Florida (AIF). Eskamani was quoted as saying, "I didn't come here for ritzy parties".

During the 2019 legislative session, Eskamani was featured by the Tampa Bay Times as being on the front lines of the abortion debate. She was also a leader for the failed attempt to run out the clock on legislation that would define sanctuary city policies in Florida law. Though a freshman lawmaker, Eskamani quickly is an advocate for public education, school safety, and environmental protection. Eskamani sponsored ten bills herself and co-sponsored more than sixty. She also succeeded in securing $80,000 for a Central Florida nonprofit focused on human trafficking prevention called The Lifeboat Project.

Eskamani is a vegetarian and self-described "aspiring vegan", which she attributes to her care for the planet.