Christopher Joseph Sprowls (born January 14, 1984) is an American attorney and Republican politician from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. He served as speaker of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopte ...

for the 2020–22 legislative term and has represented the 65th District, which includes Clearwater,

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, and Tarpon Springs in northern Pinellas County, since 2014.

History

Sprowls was born in

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, ...

, and moved to the state of

in his childhood. During his time in high school, he was diagnosed with

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...

, which he survived. After Sprowls graduated from high school Genesis Preparatory in 2002, he attended the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

, graduating with his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 2006, and then the Stetson University College of Law, receiving his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

in 2009. He then served as an Assistant State Attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit, which is located in Pasco County and Pinellas County. In 2013, Sprowls tried William Hurst, who was ultimately convicted of murdering his wife thirty years prior and was put on trial after the body was found in 2011. He then worked within the State Attorney's Office as a special prosecutor in the Gang Unit and as the Director of the Veterans Treatment Court.

Florida House of Representatives

In 2014, incumbent State Representative Carl Zimmermann, a Democrat, ran for re-election in the 65th District, so Sprowls ran against him. He faced fellow attorney Debbie Ann Faulkner in the Republican primary. The ''

Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. Pe ...

'' endorsed Sprowls over Faulkner, which noted that, though "both candidates bring intelligence and passion to the race," Sprowls "is the more polished candidate and appears ready to serve on day one if elected." Sprowls ended up defeating Faulkner by a wide margin, winning 65% of the vote, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Zimmermann. Sprowls campaigned on his opposition to

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and ...

expansion provided for under the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

, his support for charter schools, and his opposition to abortion. Ultimately, owing to the tendency of the district to vote for Republican candidates, Sprowls unseated Zimmermann, winning his first term in the legislature with 52% of the vote. On September 17, 2019, Sprowls was chosen by his Republican colleagues to be the speaker of the Florida House for the 2020–2022 legislative term. The full House formally elected him speaker on November 17, 2020, after the

2020 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

. During the 2020 elections, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, he participated in indoors

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

campaign events where attendees and participants did not wear masks or socially distance. In 2021, Sprowls praised Florida Governor

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Represe ...

for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. After Florida voters voted in favor of a referendum to restore the voting rights of felons, Sprowls and other Republicans restricted this so that felons who had outstanding fines would not regain their voting rights. Sprowls argued that this restriction did not amount to a "

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments f ...

", arguing that poll taxes had racial implications.

References

External links

Florida House of Representatives – Chris SprowlsChris Sprowls for State Representative
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprowls, Chris 1984 births 21st-century American politicians 2020 United States presidential electors Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Living people People from Pinellas County, Florida Politicians from Newburgh, New York Speakers of the Florida House of Representatives Stetson University College of Law alumni University of South Florida alumni

History

Florida House of Representatives

See also

References

External links