State senator has filed for seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney
State Sen. Greg Steube has announced that he will run for Florida’s 17th U.S. Congressional District seat, which is being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney of Okeechobee.
The district covers nine counties, a news release notes, but southern Sarasota County and Charlotte County account for over 56% of the total voters.
Rooney announced earlier this month that he would not seek re-election after serving 10 years in Congress. Politico points out that he did not cite a specific reason.
An attorney and an Army veteran, Steube “prides himself on his conservative principles, fighting for our constitutional rights, and serving our country,” the release adds.
“I’m running because Washington is broken; it needs to serve the people it was intended to serve, Floridians,” instead of special interests, Steube said in the release. “My entire adult life has been about service,” he added in the release, noting he enlisted in the Army after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Steube served the Florida House for six years, and he has been a member of the Florida Senate for the past two years. He asserts in the release that he is pro-life, a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and opposed to illegal immigration. “I will proudly support [President] Trump and his agenda in Washington and I’m proud to have the backing of Florida’s law enforcement because they know they’ll have my support,” he continued in the release.
Steube is the son of former Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube. A fifth generation Floridian, he was born and reared in the Sarasota/Bradenton area, the release notes.
Steube graduated from the University of Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Science, with honors, in animal science and a minor in agricultural law. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree in 2003 from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law.
After law school, Steube enlisted in the Army and spent one year in the infantry as a commissioned Airborne Infantry officer and then three years in the Judge Advocate General Corps, serving as a captain with the 25th Infantry Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He lives in Sarasota with his wife, Jennifer, and his son, Ethan, the release says.