User:Audreyscott/Carlos Guillermo Smith

Carlos Guillermo Smith (born December 31, 1980) is a lobbyist and politician from Florida. He is a member of the Democratic Party running for the Florida House of Representatives.

History
Smith was born in Florida to parents who immigrated to South Florida from Canada in 1979. His mother being from Canada, and father from Peru, Smith was the first member of his family to be born in America.

Smith attended Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, FL, where he graduated in 1999. In 2003, he graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in business administration. Following graduation, he worked for eight years and became manager of Men’s Wearhouse stores in Florida and Georgia. In 2011, Smith was hired as a legislative aide for Florida House Representative Scott Randolph. He served as communications director and senior advisor to Joe Saunders during his successful bid for Florida House of Representatives in the 49th congressional district. From 2012-2014, Smith served as Saunders' policy chief and ran his legislative office. In 2013, he was elected chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party. He resigned his chairmanship of the Orange County Democratic Party in the summer of 2015 to focus on his Florida State House bid for Congressional District 49.

Equality Florida
Smith is currently employed by political advocacy group Equality Florida as its governmental affairs manager. In 2015-2016, he worked on behalf of Equality Florida at the Florida Capitol to compromise with Republican lawmakers on the issue of the controversial HB 43, also known as the Pastor Protection Act, which reinforces that churches and religious clergy can legally refuse to participate in same-sex marriages. Smith secured a success for Equality Florida by reaching agreement with Republican lawmakers that the law would not be expanded to allow private business to refuse service to members of the LGBT community, essentially neutralizing the bill.

2016 state congressional campaign
On June 1st, 2015, Smith announced his candidacy for the 49th congressional district seat in the Florida House of Representatives. He is running to take back the 49th district seat for Democrats from the current Republican representative, Rene Plasencia. Smith currently faces two opponents for the seat: Republican candidate Amber Mariano, and a no party affiliation candidate, Shea Silverman. On May 3rd, he officially qualified to be on the ballot by collecting the required number of petitions. He has received endorsements from prominent progressive politicians, organizations, and unions, including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, former Florida House Representative Joe Saunders, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, and the Florida Professional Firefighters State Association.