Kendrick Meek

Kendrick, the son of retired Congresswoman Carrie Meek (née Pittman) and Harold H. Meek, was born on September 6, 1966, in Miami, Florida. He is the great grandson of The Reverend Horatius "H.H." Coleman, who was pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Miami Springs High School in Miami, where he played football as a defensive lineman. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 1989 from Florida A&M University. Meek was a star football player in college and also founded the Young Democrats at Florida A&M, later serving as President of the organization. He was also initiated into the Omega Psi Phi fraternity through the Upsilon Psi chapter. After graduating from college Meek was sworn in as a trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol and was assigned to Miami. During his four-year tenure, Meek became the first African American to reach the rank of captain. He later served on the security detail for Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Buddy MacKay and subsequently launched his political career. ==Florida State House of Representatives==

(left) in teaching youth to swim at an event in July 1998 Meek served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1995 to 1998. In 1998, Meek reintroduced the bill in the Florida House and successfully allied with Republicans to pass it. ==Florida State Senate==

From 1998 to 2002, Kendrick Meek was a member of the Florida Senate. One Florida sit-in Meek, along with fellow member Rep. Tony Hill, staged a sit-in protest in Governor Jeb Bush's office in January, 2000. The sit-in lasted for 25 hours, with the central issue being a newly implemented "One Florida" plan to end official race/gender preferences in state government. Meek said he and Hill staged the sit-in after they tried but were unable to get "a meeting with the governor— two members of the Florida legislature. Then the governor came in and was barking at us as though we were children, saying that if we expect for him to rescind his executive order, then we might as well order some blankets and get comfortable, which we did." According to Tom Bearden, when Hill and Meek tried to meet with the Governor, "tempers flared". The two lawmakers and Bush ended the sit-in after Bush agreed to delay implementation of the plan. In February 2000, Meek said lawsuits might be filed to challenge university regents' authority to use the One Florida Initiative. "I thank God for using you to bring us to this point." Class size amendment In 2002, Meek launched an initiative to reduce class sizes in Florida's public schools. The amendment would set the maximum class sizes of pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade classes to 18, 4th through 8th grade classes to 22, and high school classes to 25. It would also require schools to reduce class sizes by two students in 2003 and to reach full compliance by the beginning of the 2010 school year. Supporters of the amendment, including People for the American Way, Florida Education Association, and Florida NAACP, focused on large classes in many urban areas of Florida which had as many as 40 students: Meek said, "[for] the first time parents will have a chance to vote on something they've always wanted and that is smaller class sizes." Then-Florida governor Jeb Bush and state legislature Republicans opposed the bill because it was unclear how much the amendment would cost: "While this may be a worthy goal, we still have to ask the question, where will the money come from?" said Liz Hirst, press secretary to Governor Bush. Meek spearheaded a petition drive that collected more than 500,000 signatures, allowing the issue to be listed — as Amendment 9 — on the 2002 ballot. He also guided the amendment through two opposition efforts in the Florida Supreme Court as well as the public campaign to oppose the amendment. On November 5, 2002, Florida voters approved the amendment 52.4% to 47.6%. ==U.S. House of Representatives==

Committee assignments • Committee on Ways and Means • Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support • Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures • NATO Parliamentary Assembly Party leadership and caucus membership • Democratic Steering and Policy Committee • Congressional Black Caucus • Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Meek was a member of the New Democrat Coalition. He was also a member of the 30 Something Working Group, a small group of Democrat members who regularly held special order speeches on a variety of topics. Other prominent members included Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chris Murphy and Tim Ryan. ==Political positions==

Economic issues Meek supports an increase in the minimum wage. He voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Social issues During his time in Congress, Meek consistently opposed the Hyde Amendment, which restricts federal funding of elective abortion. He also opposes some bans on late-term abortions and notification laws for minors who seek an abortion. Meek voted against H.J. Res. 88, a proposed amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, which failed to pass by a vote of 236 to 187. ==Political campaigns==

Meek was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 5, 2002, succeeding his mother, Congresswoman Carrie Meek, who retired from the seat. In Meek's four elections to the U.S. House of Representatives, no Republican or third-party candidate had been listed on the general election ballot running against him. He had write-in opponents in three of the four elections and also had a Democratic primary opponent in 2006. 2010 U.S. Senate campaign On January 13, 2009, Meek announced he would run for the seat in the United States Senate that would be vacated upon the retirement of Republican Mel Martinez in 2010, saying, "I want to be a fighter for Florida with a strong voice that won't let the special interests stand in the way of what's right." On April 2, 2009, Meek announced his intention to qualify for the ballot by petition via collecting 112,476 completed petitions. On April 8, 2010, Meek made history by becoming the first statewide candidate in the history of Florida to qualify for the ballot by petition. On November 2, 2010, Meek lost in a three-way-race against Governor Charlie Crist, and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, receiving only 20% of the vote. ==Post-congressional career==

In 2011, Meek was nominated to serve as Special Representative to the United Nations by President Barack Obama. In 2016, Meek joined King & Spalding LLP as a senior advisor, where he provides strategic counsel to a wide range of Fortune 500 companies. Since 2023, Meek has been a paid advocate for the fossil fuel industry group, Natural Allies. In this role, he has advocated against the clean energy transition. ==Personal life==

Meek is married to Arshi Siddiqui Meek, CEO of Bellwether Government Affairs and a former, longtime partner at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss & Feld, who also served as senior advisor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He has two children, Lauren and Kendrick Jr. ==Electoral history==

}: Results 2002–2008 • Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2002, Michael Italie received 73 votes. In 2006, Eric Simpson received 23 votes.**Under Florida law, a candidate who has no opposition at all in the general election is automatically elected without his or her name being placed on the ballot. In 2008, Meek was automatically elected because he had no general election opponents on the ballot and no write-in candidates filed candidacies against him. ==See also==