Congresswoman leaving office over district changes

Rep. Gwen Graham indicates she may run for governor in 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A Democrat from north central Florida will drop her re-election bid for Congress now that her district has been significantly altered.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham will leave the 2nd Congressional District after just one term. She announced in a video posted Thursday that she is considering a run for Florida governor in 2018 instead.

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'Unfortunately, the politicians, lobbyists and courts in Tallahassee have been at work, too. Redrawing and dividing up North Florida and the district I Represent. Turning a fair district into two partisan districts," Graham said in a YouTube video. 

The league of women voters – who were at the forefront of the fight for non gerrymandered districts – was shocked by her comments.

“She owes the League of Women Voters, and the courts, and more importantly, the 3.1 million voters that put those standards in the constitution quite an apology," said Pamela Goodman with the League of Women Voters.

The Tallahassee Democrat was elected to a north Florida congressional seat nearly two years ago. But her district boundaries have significantly changed.

The state Supreme Court in December approved new districts that split her home county. Her new district is now solidly Republican.

Graham is the daughter of former Gov. Bob Graham. She has been considered a rising star in Democratic circles.

Two-term Republican Gov. Rick Scott can't run for re-election in 2018.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, whose efforts to keep her 5th Congressional District intact were rejected by the three-judge panel late Monday, announced Wednesday she will seek re-election despite the district being redrawn from a north-south orientation from Jacksonville to Orlando to one that will stretch from Jacksonville west for 200 miles along the Florida-Georgia border past Tallahassee.

Parts of Tallahassee, part of Graham's current district, would be included in the new district.
 
Brown said she was still mulling appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Former state Sen. Al Lawson, who represented a Tallahassee-based district in the Legislature and plans to challenge Brown in the Democratic primary in the redrawn District 5.  Democrats L.J. LaShonda and Alfred Lawson Jr. and Republicans Thuy Lowe and Glo Smith have also announced plans to run. Qualifying officially runs from June 20-24.
 
Matt Galka and News Service of Florida contributed to this report.