Rep. Corrine Brown (D) Elected 1992, 7th term
Born:	Nov. 11, 1946, Jacksonville
Home:	Jacksonville
Education:	FL A&M, B.S. 1969, M.S., 1971
Religion:	Baptist
Marital Status:	single
Elected  Office:	FL House of Reps., 1982-92.
Professional Career:	Prof., FL Commun. Col., 1977-82, Guidance Counselor, 1982-92.
DC Office	2444 RHOB20515, 202-225-0123; Fax: 202-225-2256; Web site: www.house.gov/corrinebrown
State Offices	Jacksonville, 904-354-1652; Orlando, 407-872-0656.
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Before the Civil War, most of Florida was still an uncharted watery wilderness, festooned with exotic greenery, inhabited by unusual animals: a part of the United States so far out of the experience of most Americans as to seem foreign. As late as 1940, Florida had the smallest population of any southern state, and most of the people here lived in classic Dixie rural counties with small courthouse towns, where civic affairs were run by the richest white men; blacks lived in poorly constructed, unpainted shotgun shacks propped up on blocks, with little money and no vote. This was a land of swamps, lakes and orange groves, of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's Cross Creek, where she wrote the great children's classic The Yearling, and the Florida of the broad St. Johns River, one of the few North American rivers that flows (if only sluggishly) north, through orange grove country to the port of Jacksonville, which was for many years Florida's largest city.

The 3d Congressional District of Florida occupies much of this swampy terrain. The district was created in 1992 to be north Florida's black majority seat, and has had three sets of boundaries. The district borders five Republican-held districts, each of which was designed to shift as many Democrats as possible to the 3d to strengthen Republicans elsewhere. In its current form it follows the St. Johns River upstream from center city Jacksonville to downtown Orlando, reaching out to pluck additional minority and Democratic voters from Sanford, where Amtrak's Auto Train unloads its Florida-bound travelers, and Gainesville, home of the University of Florida. Along the way, the district takes in smaller black settlements, such as lettuce-producing Zellwood, and Eatonville, home of author Zora Neale Hurston. In time, this relatively unpopulated, lake-filled region may see itself become Florida's next development frontier but for now, the 3d District is growing more slowly than the rest of the state. The district is 49% black--the third-highest of any Florida district--and 8% Hispanic. It is solidly Democratic.

The congresswoman from the 3d District is Corrine Brown, a Democrat first elected in 1992. She grew up in Jacksonville, taught at the community college, was a guidance counselor and in 1982 was elected to the Florida House. With her Jacksonville base, she was the clear favorite in 1992. In the Democratic primary, she faced white talk radio host Andy Johnson, who called himself "the blackest candidate in the race." Brown led 43%-31% in the primary and won 64%-36% in the runoff; she won the general 59%-41%.

Brown has compiled a liberal record on most issues. In this district where many voters work at military bases she tends to support high defense spending; she argues that the military can be a source of opportunity. On the Veterans Committee she sought additional veterans cemeteries for Florida, which is the home to more veterans than any other state except California; new cemeteries were approved for Jacksonville and Sarasota in 2003. On the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, she was active on legislation to strengthen security at the ports. She called for increased security for passenger and freight rail.

Brown has had spirited campaign opposition, which is unusual for Florida incumbents. Her most difficult contest came in 1998, with her problems largely of her own making. That April the St. Petersburg Times reported that she received $10,000 from Baptist minister Henry Lyons, who had since been indicted on theft charges; she said the money was for his help in a rally. In June the same paper reported that her daughter, attorney and EPA employee Shantrel Brown, was given a $50,000 Lexus by agents of African millionaire Foutanga Sissoko; he had been imprisoned in Miami on federal charges of paying an illegal gratuity to a Customs Service officer, and Brown worked furiously to get him released, lobbying Attorney General Janet Reno to have him deported to Africa to continue his humanitarian work. A third charge was that she kept a jazz singer on her payroll as a "congressional outreach specialist," who occasionally visited the district from her New York City home. Brown reacted with fury: she filed a criminal contempt charge against the Times reporters with the Capitol Police, claiming they "accosted" her and their questions made her cry. A federal prosecutor said there was not enough to indict them for impeding a member of Congress. These charges attracted national Republican attention. They had a presentable candidate: Bill Randall, also black, a former General Motors manager who had become a minister; he opposed abortion, favored local control of schools and school vouchers. The charges hurt Brown: she won by only 55%-45%.

But the ramifications were not finished. The Congressional Accountability Project requested that the House ethics committee investigate the $10,000 contribution and the Lexus gift; her daughter later sold the car and gave the proceeds to charity. In September 2000 the committee concluded that Brown "demonstrated, at the least, poor judgment and created substantial concerns regarding both the appearance of impropriety and the reputation of the House," but dropped the case because it was unable to question key witnesses, including Sissoko. She faced a vigorous reelection challenge from Republican Jennifer Carroll, a retired Navy officer with 20 years of service, who criticized Brown for lack of vision and an inability to work with people. Brown, who called Carroll "a zero" and "a Republican puppet," was outspent by Carroll, who is also black. But Brown had help from an October campaign rally with Bill Clinton and a strong grass-roots organization. Brown won 58%-42%. During the presidential recount, Brown was insistent that voting irregularities discriminated against black voters. In 2002 Carroll again challenged Brown. But local Republicans were not enthusiastic about Carroll's candidacy in this heavily Democratic district. "I would rather not give Corrine Brown an excuse to go through another massive voter turnout exercise, in which she is very talented," Duval County Republican chairman Tom Slade told the Jacksonville Free Press. Brown won 59%-41%, again with huge leads in the Jacksonville and Orlando. Brown was unopposed in 2004.

In that year's presidential election, she repeated her criticism of the 2000 presidential campaign recount and rallied Democrats with warnings that "Jeb Bush and his people are willing to do anything to deliver this state to the Republicans." Her outspoken partisan views got her in trouble in the House. In February 2004, she criticized a briefing on the Haiti crisis by saying that administration representatives were "a bunch of white men," and reportedly said, "you all look alike to me." After Republican Henry Bonilla said that she should resign, Brown apologized, but she continued to call the Haiti policy racist. In July, under parliamentary pressure, she rescinded her comment to the House that Republicans "stole the election" in 2000.

Barring unexpected problems, she appears secure until the next redistricting.

Committees

• Transportation & Infrastructure (8th of 34 D): Aviation; Coast Guard & Maritime Transportation; Railroads (RMM).
• Veterans' Affairs (4th of 12 D): Health.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	90	67	100	100	40	11	37	8	0	25	--
2003	95	--	100	90	--	22	33	17	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	79%	--	20%		78%	--	21%
Social	71%	--	29%		72%	--	28%
Foreign	88%	--	11%		72%	--	27%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning *		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage * 10. Fund Iraq War N 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Corrine Brown (D)	unopposed
2004 primary	Corrine Brown (D)	46,285	81%
	Prince Brown (D)	10,639	19%
2002 general	Corrine Brown (D)	88,462	59%	$438,810
	Jennifer Carroll (R)	60,747	41%	$229,103
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (58%); 1998 (55%); 1996 (61%); 1994 (58%); 1992 (59%)

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 151,466 (65%) Bush (R) 81,778 (35%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 110,501 (65%) Bush (R) 59,144 (35%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Third District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D +16
• District Size: 2,097 square miles
• Population in 2000: 639,295; 89.7% urban; 10.3% rural
• Median Household Income: $29,785; 21.5% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 26.6% blue collar; 51.8% white collar; 21.6% gray collar; 14.2% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 38.4% White, 49.3% Black, 1.6% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 2.1% Two+ races, 0.2% Other, 8.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 6.4% USA, 5.2% German, 4.9% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.