In 2002, when Frankel was unable to seek re-election in the
Florida House of Representatives due to term limits, Pafford ran to succeed her in the
85th District, which stretched from
Wellington to
Lake Worth. He faced Shelley Vana, a teachers union president, in the
Democratic primary, and narrowly lost to her, receiving 46% of the vote to her 54%. He lost an additional race in 2006 for Palm Beach County Commission to Jess Santamaria. When Florida House of Representatives State Representative
Susan Bucher was unable to seek re-election due to term limits in the 86th District, which stretched from
Boynton Beach to
Boca Raton in eastern
Palm Beach County. He won the
Democratic primary and the general election unopposed, winning his first term without any opponents. In 2010, he faced a challenge from Ron Miranda in the
Democratic primary, who claimed that Pafford had an insufficiently pro-business voting record and criticized Pafford for his poor standing with Associated Industries of Florida. Pafford responded by calling attention to his voting record and observing that some of the votes that were considered to be votes against the business community were not, noting, "If you look at what I voted against, you'll find things like Senate Bill 6 on education, you'll find some of the Medicaid reform. It's a lot of the bills that group into that pro-business type of votes by the chamber that weren't necessarily business votes." He ended up defeating Miranda to win renomination, scoring 58% of the vote to Miranda's 42%, and advancing to the general election, where he faced only a write-in challenge and won re-election with 95% of the vote. When the state's legislative districts were reapportioned in 2012, Pafford ran for re-election in the
86th District, which contained some of the territory that he had previously represented. He faced Tami Donnally, the
Republican nominee and a business administrator, in the general election. Pafford earned the endorsement of
The Palm Beach Post, which criticized Donnally and praised Pafford for his support for
Medicaid expansion under the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and for his opposition to the law that required the closing of "the state's only tuberculosis sanatorium." Pafford ended up defeating Donnally with ease, receiving 60% of the vote to her 40% and winning his third term. Though Florida House of Representatives State Representative Darryl Rouson was initially elected to serve as
House Democrats' Minority Leader for the 2014-2016 legislative term, he was ousted by the Democratic Caucus. Pafford, in turn, ran for the position himself and defeated fellow
State Representative Alan Williams to win the leadership position, by a vote of 29–12 vote. Pafford served as the Democratic Leader for the 2014-2016 legislative term. Pafford most recently served (2016-2018) as a state board member for the League of Women Voters Florida. Additionally, he actively assisted the Gwen Graham Campaign for Florida Governor and numerous other local and state candidates seeking office. Pafford attempts to bird and explore wild places throughout Florida and the rest of the US as time and reality permit. ==References==