Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) Elected 2004, 1st term
Born:	Sept. 27, 1966, Queens, NY
Home:	Weston
Education:	U. of FL, B.A. 1988, M.A. 1990
Religion:	Jewish
Marital Status:	married (Steve)
Elected  Office:	FL House, 1992-2000; Min. leader pro tem., 1999-2000; FL Sen., 2000-04.
Professional Career:	State legislative aide, 1989-1992.
DC Office	118 CHOB20515, 202-225-7931; Fax: 202-226-2052; Web site: www.house.gov/schultz
State Offices	Aventura, 305-936-5724; Pembroke Pines, 954-437-3936.
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Fort Lauderdale, back when Connie Francis made it famous in the 1960 spring break movie Where the Boys Are, was just a small town with a strip of motels along the beach and some nice houses fronting canals. Now it is a more stylish beach resort and the center of a sprawling metropolitan area, where the visitor bureau website announces, "Fort Lauderdale is no longer 'Where the boys are,' but where well-heeled Europeans, sophisticated Northerners and laid-back Midwesterners come to relax and vacation." In 1950, Fort Lauderdale and Broward County had 183,000 people; in 2004 they had 1.8 million. The land from the strip of beach along the Atlantic Ocean west to the Sawgrass Expressway and the Everglades Wildlife Management Area has filled up with subdivisions, shopping centers, office complexes, warehouses and trucking terminals. Broward County is no longer just vacation country; it is also a major port and business center with high-tech companies and startups that have become national giants, including Blockbuster Video.

As it has grown, the ethnic composition of Broward County has changed. In the 1950s, it was understood that Jews couldn't buy houses or rent hotel rooms this far north of Miami. Today, after four decades of Cubans moving into the Miami area and many Jews moving out, Broward County is the most heavily Jewish part of Florida, indeed one of the most heavily Jewish parts of the United States. Nearer the coast, especially in the huge high-rises of Hollywood and Hallandale, most of Broward's Jews are retirees from New York and other Northeastern metro areas. But inland, in towns like booming Davie, Plantation and Sunrise that didn't exist a few decades ago, there are many young Jewish parents raising families in communities that pride themselves on fine schools and high property values. Places like Weston, a 15,000-home development built on 16 square miles on the edge of the Everglades, drew affluent transplants to its gated communities, including, in Weston's case, many from Venezuela. This is one reason that in the 1990s the number of children in Florida rose more rapidly than the number of seniors, with school enrollment rising more than 35% in Broward alone.

The 20th Congressional District of Florida includes much of southeastern Broward County and the northern Biscayne Bay shoreline in Miami-Dade. Precinct by precinct, its computer generated borders are drawn to include heavily Democratic and Jewish areas; with its large gay and lesbian community, Wilton Manors trails only Provincetown, Massachusetts and Guerneville, California in its proportion of same-sex households. It includes much of Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach on the coast, but its biggest blocks of territory are inland, around Davie, Plantation, Sunrise and Weston. In Miami-Dade County, it includes the shores of Biscayne Bay both on the Miami and Miami Beach side, with expensive homes and huge high-rises. This is a strongly Democratic district. But some significant number of Jewish voters did swing toward George W. Bush over his first term; his percentage in the district rose from 31% in 2000 to 36% in 2004.

The congresswoman from the 20th District is Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat elected in 2004. She accomplished the unusual feat of winning her seat in Congress without a primary opponent or a significant general election foe. She grew up on Long Island, where she ran for student council every year and always lost. After getting her bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from the University of Florida, in 1992, at age 26, she became the state's youngest woman ever elected to the state House. Many of her constituents treat her like a granddaughter. She served eight years in the state House, including two years as minority leader, followed by four years in the state Senate. She calls herself "a pragmatic liberal" but sponsored a controversial law to require an equal number of men and women on state boards and a bill which failed to pass requiring that dry cleaners and some other businesses charge the same prices for women as for men. She learned to compromise: After failing to pass a proposal to require fences around swimming pools, she won a requirement to give owners a choice among several safety options, including a pool cover or door alarm.

When 20th District incumbent Peter Deutsch ran for the Democratic nomination for Bob Graham's open Senate seat, Wasserman Schultz moved to replace him in Congress, as she had earlier replaced him in Tallahassee. She began laying the groundwork early. In July 2003, more than a year before the primary, she announced she had raised $115,000. By February 2004 she had lined up endorsements from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and six of Florida's seven House Democrats. Wasserman Schultz ultimately collected more than $1 million for what turned out to be an uncompetitive race and in June 2004 pledged to give $100,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a staggeringly large contribution from a non-incumbent.

Most of her campaign views were conventionally liberal. Wasserman Shultz called for repeal of the Bush tax cuts, a reduction in the budget deficit, greater use of diplomacy, improved prescription drug coverage and gay and abortion rights. Against a Republican who attacked the "homosexual agenda" in the public schools, Wasserman Schultz won 70%-30%. Wasserman Schultz said that her primary choice for a committee assignment was Energy and Commerce, where she hoped to take Deutsch's slot. But that was a long shot for a freshman, even with her ambition, insider savvy, and fundraising skills. Instead, she was placed on Financial Services.

Committees

• Financial Services (31st of 32 D): Capital Markets, Insurance & Government Sponsored Enterprises; Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade & Technology; Oversight & Investigations.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)	191,195	70%	$1,468,898
	Margaret Hostetter (R)	81,213	30%	$35,045
2004 primary	Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)	unopposed
2002 general	Peter Deutsch (D)	unopposed

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 183,510 (64%) Bush (R) 104,039 (36%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 161,154 (69%) Bush (R) 72,553 (31%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Twentieth 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 +18
• District Size: 218 square miles
• Population in 2000: 639,295; 99.7% urban; 0.3% rural
• Median Household Income: $44,034; 9.6% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 16.0% blue collar; 69.4% white collar; 14.6% gray collar; 11.3% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 66.9% White, 7.9% Black, 2.3% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.6% Two+ races, 0.3% Other, 20.6% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 7.9% Italian, 7.7% German, 7.5% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.