State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen being interviewed by NBC-2's Dave Elias.
Dec. 4, 2019 by David Silverberg
Updated 10 am with age and link to election data.
State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen (R-78-Fort Myers) has announced that she is running for Congress in the 19th Congressional District.
Fitzenhagen, 59, made her announcement and launched her campaign website yesterday morning, Dec. 3. As of this writing it has her biography but no policy positions.
In an interview yesterday with NBC-2’s Dave Elias, Fitzenhagen pledged her allegiance to President Donald Trump:
“I’ve always supported the president,” she said in response to a question by Elias. “I was here when he had his very first rally and I was one of his first supporters. So my support has been continuous and it will be ongoing.”
Asked about her opinion of impeachment, she said: “I don’t think we should impeach the president. I think that is wrong.”
Fitzenhagen has been an attorney in Fort Myers with Morgan and Morgan for the past seven years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hollins University, Hollins, Va., and a Juris Doctorate degree from Nova Southeastern University, Davie, Fla.
The 78th Florida House District covers Fort Myers and approximately a third of Lehigh Acres.
Fitzenhagen is currently term-limited and 2020 will mark her last term in the Florida House.
She won her previous races with comfortable margins: 59.3 percent of 68,915 votes over Democrat Parisima Taeb in 2018 and 67.3 percent of 56,033 votes over Independent Kerry Babb in her first race in 2012. In that year, the first after new maps were drawn, she faced a primary race against Jonathan Martin, winning the primary with 68.8 percent of 13,530 votes. She ran unopposed in 2014 and 2016.
Based on her initial interview, it is clear she will be running to out-Trump State Rep. Dane Eagle (R-77-Cape Coral), who has staked the most extreme pro-Trump, anti-Democratic position of the five Republican candidates running before her entrance into the race. She is the only female candidate on the Republican side.