Fred Hawkins has made his departure from the state Legislature official — well, at least Facebook official.
Hawkins, the former Osceola County commissioner who won election to the Florida House of Representatives in 2020 and re-election in a reworked district, noted on his personal Facebook page that Friday will be his last day as a State Representative.
Earlier this month, Hawkins was selected by South Florida State College trustees to become its new school president to replace the retiring President Thomas Leitzel.
“It is truly been an honor to represent the people of District 35 and the great State of Florida. To get to know and serve with the people that I have the last three years and the friendships that were made has just been incredible,” Hawkins said in the note he posted Wednesday night. “I can’t wait to see all the great things, those serving will continue to do. I’ll still be around Tallahassee just in a different role … So grateful for the incredible staff that I had. I think all of you are the best in the process. I thank God every day for allowing me to serve in this capacity and for the opportunity that awaits in front of me.”
In May, when the opportunity came up, Hawkins called the college, a two-year school like Valencia College, “Amazing and appealing.”
"They've said they wanted someone with government and Tallahassee experience, and what we've done with NeoCity in Osceola County seemed to impress them."
The selection came final at a June 21 meeting of the school's trustees. South Florida State College has campuses in Avon Park (the main campus), Lake Placid, Bowling Green and Arcadia in Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto counties.
The Secretary of State will decide if a special election will be needed this year for his seat, that would be up in 2024; there has yet been no word on that, and Hawkins said this week has hasn’t heard anything. A Florida Department of State Division of Elections website listing 2024 candidates shows nothing yet for a 2023 district 35 election.
Thus far, six candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to replace Hawkins. Republican Demetries Andrew Grimes and Democrat Tom Keen opened campaign accounts in May. Democrat Rishi Bagga, who like Keen ran for the seat last year as well, and Republicans Scott Moore and Ken Davenport entered in June. Days later, Republican Erika Booth, who just won election to the Osceola County School Board last year, also entered to run, citing, “I have realized the issues facing educators, parents and our students cannot simply be solved locally.”
