Draft:Melina Rayna Svanhild Farley-Barratt

Melina Rayna Svanhild Farley-Barratt (1978 or 1979 - October 13, 2020) was an American transgender rights activist from Gilchrist County, Florida. She was a candidate for the Florida Senate until she died from thyroid cancer weeks before the election.

History
Farley-Barratt was the legislative director for the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Additionally, she was the president of Florida NOW's Gainesville chapter.

In October 2018, she attended a protest organized outside of a Hobby Lobby in response to a statement made by President Donald Trump.

She actively lobbied the Florida congress during the state's 2020 Legislative Session.

2020 Florida senate election
Prior to the election, Florida Senate District 5 was represented by Rob Bradley from the Republican Party. Bradley was ineligible to stand for re-election due to term limits, having initially been elected in 2012. In his place, his wife Jennifer Bradley ran for the open seat.

Prior to filing her paperwork to run, Farley-Barratt spent three years thinking about running a political campaign. She opted to run for a seat in the Florida Senate after Dr. Kayser Enneking, a professor from the University of Florida, filed to run for her district in the Florida House of Representatives. This would make Farley-Barratt the second ever transgender candidate to gain ballot access for the Florida legislature, and the first for the state senate. Winning the election would've made her Florida's first transgender state legislator.

On October 13, 2020, Farley-Barratt died from thyroid cancer while in hospice care. To help pay for her memorial service, her friends and family began a GoFundMe campaign. Among those who gave their condolences were Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe and Jennifer Bradley.

As Farley-Barratt's replacement in the Senate race, Democrats chose Stacey Peters. Bradley went on to beat Peters in the general election, receiving 74.8% of the vote.