Connie Mack IV had a conservative record in the Florida Legislature. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was one of its most liberal members.
By Associated Press
Published November 5, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Florida's two new U.S. representatives are both younger than 40, parents of young children and have served in the state Legislature, but they are political opposites.
Republican Connie Mack IV, 37, resigned from the Florida House and moved from Fort Lauderdale to his native Fort Myers to run for the congressional seat once held by his father, former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack III.
Democratic state Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 38, of Weston, again will succeed her mentor, U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Fort Lauderdale. He hired her right out of college as a legislative aide when he was in the Florida House.
In 1992, she became at 26 the youngest woman ever elected to the Legislature when she won Deutsch's former state House seat while he ran for Congress. He did not seek re-election this year to run for the U.S. Senate, but lost in the primary election.
Mack and Wasserman Schultz were easily elected Tuesday to the only two open seats among Florida's 25 U.S. House districts. Incumbents were re-elected in 23, leaving the delegation's 18-7 Republican majority unchanged.
Wasserman Schultz has been one of the Legislature's most liberal members during eight years in the House and four in the Senate. Mack was among its most conservative members for his three years in the House.
"It doesn't appear likely that we will be agreeing on many things," Wasserman Schultz said.
Cutting taxes is one of Mack's most important objectives. Wasserman Schultz's wish list includes spending more on health care and education.
Both, however, said they want to dampen partisan rancor.
"You're going to see, hopefully, from both sides, but at least from the Republican side, a willingness to act in a bipartisan fashion," Mack said. Wasserman Schultz promised to do her part. "I want to continue my history of separating the good fight from the relationships you build," she said.
Mack, a marketing executive and University of Florida graduate, was exposed to politics through his father.
He said the campaign gave him an opportunity to bond more closely with his father, but "I ran the campaign on my own."
He was elected in the 14th District to succeed Porter Goss, recently appointed to head the CIA. In his race against Democrat Robert Neeld, a Cape Coral accountant, Mack won with 67.5 percent.
Wasserman Schultz defeated Republican Margaret Hostetter, a Davie real estate broker, with 70 percent of the vote in the 20th District.
She and her husband, banker Steve Schultz, have three children, ages 1, 4 and 5.
Mack and wife Ann have two children, ages 2 and 4.
Wasserman Schultz is a native of Forest Hills, N.Y. Her father is an accountant and her mother is a plant nursery specialist.
At the University of Florida she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in political science and was president of the Student Senate.
She has patterned herself after Deutsch.
"His philosophy was to remain very close to his constituents," she said, "to be a regular part of the community."
