Building “transformational politics”: Anna Eskamani on Tallahassee, the Florida Legislative Session and progressive change in Florida
ERIC BAZAIL EIMIL: If you follow progressive politics in Florida, the name Anna Eskamani pops up pretty frequently. A two-term member of the Florida House of Representatives from the Orlando area, Rep. Eskamani has enjoyed one of the most meteoric rises in Florida politics since Bob Graham jumped from lesser-known state senator to unforgettable Democratic Governor and U.S. Senator almost a half century ago.
Her biography is unusual for a political candidate in Florida. A Planned Parenthood employee and PhD candidate in public affairs at the University of Central Florida, Eskamani is the daughter of Iranian-American immigrants and grew up in the Orlando area. She first entered electoral politics in the 2018 midterms, running for the Florida Legislature. Endorsed by President Obama, the AFL-CIO, and many state organizations, Eskamani flipped Florida’s 47th District, a former Republican seat, by a nearly nine point margin. She also raised over $500,000 as a first-time candidate, an incredible feat.
Eskamani is widely seen as a progressive favorite for the 2022 Florida Gubernatorial election. She’s been a leading voice for structural changes to allow for a Florida that works for working people, even when it has often seemed deeply Quixotic. Especially in the face of such a chaotic legislative session in Florida, Eskamani’s role as a powerful minority party lawmaker with an immense platform has proved valuable.
And I wanted to know, what were her thoughts on everything going on in Tallahassee amidst a chaotic legislative session? Thankfully, Rep. Eskamani’s office graciously agreed to the interview request.
The following is the transcript of our conversation on Tuesday, April 20th, lightly edited for clarity. Additional notes are added to reflect updates that occurred through the remainder of the Session.
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ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL: So you’ve had a fairly meteoric rise in Florida politics. You flipped a Republican-held seat in the state legislature in 2018 by a nearly ten point margin and raised over half a million dollars as a first-time candidate. You got re-elected even as President Trump gained ground across the state, expanding your margin of victory and even winning over some cross-ballot support from Republicans. You’re a progressive leader now and many see you as a potential gubernatorial candidate in this coming cycle. Why do you think your brand of politics is resonating with Florida voters?
REP. ANNA ESKAMANI: Well, it’s hard to find authenticity in politics these days! My sister made a comment thanking me for being vulnerable, and I think that that’s really lacking these days. For so many politicians, first of all, they’re in office for the wrong reasons. Maybe they’re from a lineage of politicians, or their parents are donors, or they’re looking for a career path rather than one driven by service.
In my case, I come from the grassroots up. I don’t come from a family of wealth. I don’t come from a family of folks who have run for office. My parents were immigrants from Iran and made Florida their home, raised their kids in Orlando, and gave everything they could to their community. What little we had, they gave. And my mom passed away from cancer when I was 13 years old. And there are many moments where I connect with folks not really on political or ideological issues, but really just on our values. On our shared values of caring about everyday people, on caring about family, on the value of hard work and sacrifice, and building a state where hard work is valued and where you’re not going to be left behind.
That approach comes from an honest place, and I don’t think there’s any doubt to the notion that we’re also worker bees. There are a lot of queen bees in politics, but not as many worker bees in politics, and you have to be both. You have to do the work and demonstrate that you can solve problems, and I do think that throughout the pandemic, but even in other situations of trauma and stress, that’s been important. In Orlando, we’ve had many experiences of trauma and stress: we have an affordable housing crisis; Pulse Nightclub is in my district, where we lost 49 people to the hands of gun violence, mostly Queer Black and Brown people; we also, of course throughout the pandemic, experienced a broken unemployment system. We don’t run away from these problems, we run towards them to try and fix them. Even when there’s no light on you, no attention on you, you should still be solving these problems. Folks are tired of transactional politics, when politicians only show up when there’s a camera there or when they show up because they expect something in return. I believe in transformational politics, which means I give without expectation because it’s the right thing to do and hopefully it inspires you to do the same.
EBE: I very much vibe with that. As a Cuban American immigrant kid from Fort Lauderdale, that really resonates with me. I write a lot about how here in Florida, it often feels as though there’s very little empathy in politics. There have been so many moments during this pandemic, and before, where I notice that there is a palpable cruelty in the ways in which things are done here.
AE: Thank you for saying that. You know that reminds me of the day we had today. I’ve sponsored this amendment three times now to increase Florida’s weekly [unemployment] benefit amount by $100 but every time I file it, I’m told it’s out of order. And you can tell it’s because they didn’t want to vote on it. They just kept trying to find ways to nullify my amendment. Then finally, we got to the unemployment bill and they can’t find a way to nullify my amendment so I present the amendment.
It was just so frustrating, the Republican question and comment on this bill. And I had to call it out. I’m tired of you shaming workers and acting as if workers are lazy. Workers are the backbone of this economy. Cruel is the word that came to my mind. Like this is just cruel, the way you treat your fellow Floridians, how little you trust you trust your fellow Floridians. And the abuse of power is very clear to me.
That’s another contrast to me. Power is neither good nor bad. Power is neutral. It depends who wields it. But far too many politicians believe power is a scarce resource so they hold onto it as much as they can. What they don’t understand is that we build power together. The more people that have power, we all rise up and we have a more equitable community where folks have efficacy, which means they’re going to vote and hold you accountable. But that’s not what they want. So I think it’s very refreshing for folks to see elected officials that are accessible, but are also brave enough to be vulnerable and to have empathy. Hopefully, it sets a tone for both big political parties and anyone interested in politics to have empathy in what you do.
EBE: I very much agree. I want to dive into some of the issues, because as you point out, today was definitely a bit of a whammy. Regarding unemployment, in fairness to the Governor, it’s not an issue that was innate to his administration.
AE: But of course, he doesn’t support a $100 increase –– Ridiculous, by the way –– which tells me that now that he has said that yes, he’s distanced himself from the broken unemployment system, but him saying that this week demonstrates that he doesn’t care. Like he really doesn’t care, like he doesn’t want it to be his problem, but he doesn’t actually care about making it better. That was made very clear to me this week. He’s been so smug since his first days in office, it’s unbelievable.
EBE: And doing that in the same breath, pretty much, while signing a $1 billion tax increase on Florida’s consumer.
AE: It’s wild.
EBE: As someone who’s been through the legislature’s process, how would you grade the legislature’s performance this session?
AE: Good question. I would probably give it no more than a D. I don’t give it an F because some Democratic bills have moved. I think one of the most monumental shifts in the Florida House this session is a prioritization of extending Medicaid to prevent maternal mortality by allowing new moms who give birth to retain their Medicaid beyond two months. The goal is a year, and that’s been a bipartisan commitment from the House, though not so much the Senate.
Beyond that, the focus on corporate agenda alongside culture wars has been a complete disappointment given the importance of this body. We’ve had more culture wars on the House floor, debates around memorials for Communism, denouncing DSA. To some degree, these aren’t even policy, they’re ideological statements. And that’s what’s coming to the House floor meanwhile really good bills are dying that never even got a hearing. Bills that would challenge and improve so many parts of Florida’s infrastructure and systems. So yeah I would definitely say, I’m being an easy grader by giving it a D to be honest.
EBE: I think it’s very generous, given the national headlines that this session has produced. I saw a lot of buzz on Twitter regarding your comments on the bill targeting trans children and their ability to participate in school programming, including sports. The quote of yours I saw was: “I will not be used as a political pawn for some sick political game that pits me against my sisters, & I humbly ask that all women in this chamber stand up and demand that exclusion not be done in our name.”
What was going through your mind through this entire process? For so many folks disconnected from the Beltway and the Capital, this bill kind of came out of nowhere and it’s of course part of this broad trend across the country of anti-trans legislation.
AE: So I mean, these are some just disastrously painful bills. I mentioned this on the House floor, but every day, I wear my rainbow ribbon with me and my trans ribbon with me.
The rainbow ribbon came from Pulse. When [the Pulse Nightclub Shooting] happened in my district, I was not elected yet. I worked at Planned Parenthood at the time. And we were doing everything we could to respond to this crisis. I actually took some ownership of collecting as many gift cards as we could for the families of survivors who were in the hospital. We had families in both major hospitals and they didn't have any cash on them, they didn’t really have anything on them, so we were told by some of the advocates if we can collect gift cards so folks can go and buy lunch to bring back to the hospitals so they wouldn’t have to spend their own money.
So we were collecting that and dropping them off at the Center. And when I went to the Center to drop off gift cards, I was given a ribbon from Ben Johansen –– we call him the “Ribbon Maker” in central Florida –– and so I’ve always worn this ribbon since then.
The Trans Ribbon I added after attending a memorial for Sasha Garden, a Black Trans woman who was murdered. To this day, police haven't even solved that crime.
So these issues are super personal for all of us. I don't call myself an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. I call myself an accomplice, which for me takes it to a deeper level because it's not about standing by your side at a Pride parade. It's about going into the trenches with you. Even if we have to get arrested, we're doing it together, like I’m not going to leave your side. So when I see a bill that's attacking our most vulnerable population –– trans children –– I am not having it. I am not having it. Not only did we file multiple amendments on this bill the day before, we were on the floor for hours debating this bill with amendments.
That day that we actually voted on the bill, I was told that I would be the first one to start the debate. I rarely get nervous when I'm speaking on the House Floor, but I actually was nervous and I was shaking. I didn't even know how to control it. I was just so angry about this bill, but I also knew since I was going to be the first person to speak, I needed to set a tone for my colleagues to listen to. Because one of the challenges on the House Floor is that it can be very empty. Just like you see in Congress where someone's talking by themselves, like on far too many occasions, folks are in the back room, having lunch, or talking in the back. Not even at their desk.
You want to make sure that people understand the seriousness of these issues and that they listen, so when I delivered those remarks, it came from a place of a lot of sadness and anger, but also with some degree of hope that [they would] understand why this bill is flawed.
I'm happy to say that, right now, the bill has been [temporarily postponed] in the Senate and that's a very, very good sign. I don't want to declare victory yet, but it's a very good sign that our efforts in the House, to point out the problems with this bill and how dangerous this bill is, have influenced the Senate to not move it forward. So we'll see you next two days but those are just some of the things going on in my head.
(Editor’s Note: the Senate revived the bill on April 29th, just before the close of the legislative session and passed the bill. It has not yet been signed by Gov. DeSantis at the time of publication).
EBE: In the end, it's disheartening to know that the Senate did stop this bill, but then didn't stop HB 1 on protests, which the Governor signed just recently. The bill being signed today obviously comes as there may be protests and demonstrations in response to the Derek Chauvin verdict. What do you think the passage, and signing, of HB 1 suggests about how Republicans in Florida view the civil society they’re interacting with?
AE: Well, first of all there's definitely a disrespect towards, and a distrust of, Black and Brown people. And also, I think, a lack of understanding that anyone can subscribe to white supremacy, even if you're not white. I think there's an assumption that white supremacy is only carried by white folks. But no, anyone can subscribe to that ideology.
There are plenty of Black and Brown people that consent to white supremacy. There's plenty of people in my community, as Iranian Americans, that carry White supremacist values. There are Iranians who don't call themselves people of color because there's an assumption that there's a stigma attached to that. When I went to Iran for the first time as a 13 or 14 year old, after my Mom passed away, one of my family members asked me –– she spoke in Farsi, so the translations isn’t going to be perfect –– but she basically asked me why was I so black because I had darker skin because I was in the sun a lot in Florida.
I don't share this to shame people, but these are real problems in all of our communities and we can’t ignore them. And then you see the Governor completely reject the idea of even empathizing with Black lives lost, and completely shifting in the opposite direction to practice this hard on crime mentality, which is completely politically motivated not even about the policy.
I mean, the number of Republican lawmakers who actually care about reforming the criminal legal system and sentencing policies, who still supported this bill, is very disappointing because it has sentencing in it. None of the crimes in the bill are new. They created this new concept of mob intimidation, but when I asked the bill sponsor what parts of mob intimidation are not already covered by current law, he couldn’t answer the question. There was nothing needed; we already have laws against looting, violence, and vandalism.
It sets this tone that “you don't matter.” That “I don't care about Black or Brown lives.” That “I don't care about the history of policing in America.” That “I want to take a myopic perspective on the criminal legal system and also side with some of the most extreme Sheriffs.”
That last part is important, because the Sheriffs that stood with our Governor when this bill was signed into law are definitely the most extreme sheriffs in Florida. There are Sheriffs that actually didn't like the bill because they felt like it hurt their ability to build trust with their communities.
It’s incredibly frustrating, but again, it goes back to culture wars. Candidly I think it's pretty clear the Governor wants to run for President. He’s setting himself up for a Republican primary. He mentions all the time that this was the strongest bill in the country so he's really looking at things for a national audience, not the people of Florida. That's dangerous for all of us.
EBE: Oh, I absolutely agree with that. It’s a similar trend with his COVID response. As a legislator in Tallahassee, you’ve been navigating all of it and conservative media doesn't stop trumpeting his so-called “accomplishments.”
How would you grade the Governor’s COVID response? Where do you think there are, if you think they exist, things to praise, and things to criticize? And where do you see the problems or the strengths with it?
AE: So the areas where Florida's response has been strong are really the areas where Jared Moskowitz played a role in. Jared is leaving soon, but he's been the state's Emergency Management Director and he’s a Democrat. And he's a logistics guy. It took us time to get there, but we've had strong testing access. Like I said, it took us a while to get to that point, but testing has been made more readily available in Florida compared to other states.
It’s hard though to point out the areas that have been strong. I think there's been a lot of transparency concerns from every angle you can think of, whether it's withholding White House reporting, or not sharing the names of the Assisted Living facilities and nursing homes that had COVID outbreaks, or not sharing data from our prison system, not sharing hospital data. Every data point we've had, the press has had to push for in order to get, or even file lawsuits to get at times.
Of course, the opening of the state and the lack of benefits made available to folks early on caused a lot of damage, both to people's health and their well being and, of course, their financial security. It’s been a really tough year. It's been a tough year with a Governor that again, at this point is more committed to spreading disinformation than actually delivering services to people.
EBE: I can't even imagine what it's like being a legislator and just having to respond to all of this culture war, and this dumpster fire being thrown at you when there's a lot of issues to legislate on. For example, your district is where the Pulse Nightclub is located. And for me, of course, gun violence and gun control have been important issues in my local community, because I live very close to Parkland.
AE: Absolutely.
EBE: But we still don't see progress on it. We have [the Piney Point ecological disaster going on right now.
AE: 25 Gypsum stacks in Florida, you know. Like it's not like this is the only Gypsum stack we have, like many.
EBE: I mean, for so many people looking from the outside in, it almost seems like this Kafka-esque problem like, how do you actually get anything done as a progressive in Florida. Because literally it's like, when it's not like a bill targeting trans folks, it's a bill trying to get rid of Bright Futures scholarships, or they're just throwing everything at the wall, and it's hard to keep up from the outside. How do you balance and navigate that?
AE: We are constantly playing Defense, without a doubt. I always call myself a happy warrior because you really have to try to find joy in this work, because it will beat you down and they want you to quit. They want you to quit. I spoke to one of my colleagues, who is a strong democrat and was just elected, and she wanted to quit. We had to remind her like, girl, we need you here. We need your voice. Your community needs you here. And so it's a constant reminder of purpose.
I tell myself too, that this is backlash. What we're experiencing now is backslash, backslash grounded in our hope becoming a reality, which means we have to keep hoping. We have to keep pushing towards that reality. If we slow down, or if we get weary and we step back, we’re going to lose ground. We have to keep going, but just remembering that it’s a long-term strategy.
Change doesn't happen overnight. It happens with a committed and consistent persistence or something greater than ourselves. I've been an advocate at this point for over a decade in my life, and I can't stop. If I stop, there will be millions of people in this state who don't have an advocate, who don't have a voice, who don't have someone asking the tough questions.
Though I can’t always bring a bill back home or bring money back home as much as I want to, we are solving problems. Sometimes, that means raising our own money to solve problems. Sometimes that means spending hours on the phone with different agencies to get people their business license or to get them their unemployment employee benefits. So we demonstrate our deliverables in different ways.
But I will say that even in the legislative process, we have had wins. We were able to increase arts and culture funding by 800% my first year here in Florida. We've been able to get bills passed that don't always have my name on there, but have other people's names on them. And that's fine! You can’t be so upset about who gets the credit in this work. You just want to get it done.
It definitely can be draining, so you just have to remind yourself with purpose and not lose hope.
EBE: And I can only imagine that the job is more difficult just given the culture in Tallahassee. We’ve seen the reports that have come in about Matt Gaetz. You received that voicemail from Joel Greenberg, Good God I’m sorry.
How have you navigated those additional pressures as a woman of color lawmaker in Tallahassee? Because it's clearly not a place that is hospitable.
AE: No, It is not. It is not. I appreciate this question. I've talked to some of my girlfriends who identify as women of color who also serve, about just how difficult it is.
A, there's micro-aggressors, so there are folks that treat you differently, because of your age, your gender, and your skin color. There's a lot of assumptions made about women of color. The first day I was here, folks wrote me off as being problematic. You see that labeling happening with different lawmakers as well, where you don't get to walk in and start at a neutral level. You walk in and you’re at “negative 50”. So you have to build that trust with your colleagues, when everyone else walks in and they already have trust. You literally have to build it back up. And that creates a lot of obstacles.
Then just speaking to the objectification of women, when I got that voicemail from Joel Greenberg and Matt Gaetz, I just wrote it off as another experience of being a woman in politics. I didn't call back. I didn’t text back. I just compartmentalised it and put it away because it's not the first time that somebody has given me an unsolicited text or unsolicited call. You learn to avoid them by not answering or responding, but that's still not a way to live. It's not a way to navigate a professional work environment.
We're constantly finding solidarity with other women, which is really important. We do have a bipartisan women's legislative caucus here and we've been focused on issues around sexual assault and so forth. But at the same time, we have these gross alimony change bills and these bills that might not directly attack women, but they do [attack women]. We always have abortion restrictions on the table every session.
It is a constant battle of fighting for our autonomy and fighting for respect and fighting for our rights. But again, I am the daughter of the witches they could not burn, so in my blood are the stories of women before me, and I find a lot of inspiration in that too.
EBE: One final question: what is the one piece of advice you'd give a young person who wants to get involved in Florida politics?
Especially for local politics, it can often seem daunting. Like how do you get into the right places with the Democratic club, for example? And how do you find your moment?
AE: So walk through every door that opens. And if it doesn't open, shake that door down.
I always was volunteering for things. I was creating my own space if I wasn't already invited. I would find a way to be involved and show up. I remember the first political event I ever attended by myself, I was 20 years old and I walked into a League of Women Voters houseparty. I was not only by myself, but also probably the youngest person there because the League of Women Voters tends to be an older organization.
But I have to get out of my comfort zone and just talk to people and meet strangers and make them my friends. So I would say, get out of your comfort zone, identify your mentors, and keep them close and then ask for guidance, but trust your guts.
Then, finally, remember that power should be built together. So don't feel like you need to hold onto it. There's plenty to go around.