Jason William Barnet Pizzo (born May 20, 1976) is an American attorney and politician who has served as a member of the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

since 2018, representing parts of coastal Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. An elected Democrat for most of his career, Pizzo became an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

in 2025. Born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, Pizzo received his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. While attending law school, he served as an assistant state attorney for the

Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous count ...

State Attorney’s Office.

Career

Pizzo first ran for the State Senate against Daphne Campbell in the Democratic Party primary. Pizzo won 24% behind Campbell with 31%. In 2018, Pizzo ran again and received 54% to Campbell's 46% in the primary. Pizzo was elected to the Florida legislature on November 6, 2018 without opposition.In 2022, Pizzo was re-elected to the Florida Senate without opposition. On February 10, 2023, the Florida Senate Democratic Party caucus unanimously elected Pizzo to succeed Lauren Book as Senate Democratic leader during the 2024–2026 term. On April 24, 2025, Pizzo announced that he had left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent. On May 9, 2025, he announced that he would run for

governor of Florida The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...

in 2026 as an independent.

Elections

References

, - 1976 births 21st-century members of the Florida Legislature Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Democratic Party Florida state senators Florida independents Living people New York University alumni People from North Miami Beach, Florida Politicians from Somerville, New Jersey University of Miami School of Law alumni {{Florida-FLSenate-stub