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Senator
Gayle Harrell

Gayle’s commitment and service to our community prepared well her to serve as our Senator in Tallahassee. As a child in a military family, a devoted wife and proud mother, a dedicated teacher, a successful businesswoman, and a committed community volunteer, Gayle brings a lifetime of experience with her to the State Senate.

Gayle has used the skills she developed as a mother, public school teacher and businesswoman to identify problems and work with her constituents to solve them. Throughout her service in Tallahassee, Gayle has always been focused on delivering real results for District 31.

Gayle has also stayed close to her community even when she is often called to Tallahassee for meetings. She has led the fight to preserve and protect Johnathan State Park from the misguided attempt to build 3 golf courses in the unique natural habitat of the park. She has been a leader in procuring funding for Comprehensive Everglades Restoration and stopping the releases from Lake Okeechobee and has always been a champion for our children.

Gayle was married to Dr. James Harrell (deceased) for 53 years, has four children and eight grandchildren, and is an active member of the First Presbyterian Church in Stuart.

GROWING THE ECONOMY

Gayle has worked diligently with Governor DeSantis and local community and business leaders to build our economy. Although Florida’s economy is strong, inflation is the number one problem the families are facing because of national policies. To help address this problem, Gayle has delivered meaningful tax relief to help families hold on to more of their hard-earned money. She passed over $1.07 billion in tax relief as well as $450 million in toll relief, bringing the total savings for Florida families to $1.5 billion for Fiscal Year 2024. Since 2019, Gayle has worked to provide nearly $6.7 billion in tax cuts while maintaining a comfortable budget surplus.

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT

The environment – and particularly water quality – is a top issue for our community. Gayle is committed to cleaning up our waterways and stopping toxic discharges from Lake Okeechobee. Gayle fought to procure record funding for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection including over $702 million for Everglades restoration projects, the second phase of the EAA Reservoir and South Florida Water Management District.

SAVING OUR PARKS

Our State Parks are set aside to preserve and protect the best of Florida's diverse and unique natural habitat and cultural sites and make them available for the enjoyment of our residents and visitors. They are NOT a bank of developable land for misguided ideas like the golf courses the one proposed at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Gayle is leading the charge to make sure this never happens and is proposing legislation to protect our State Parks for our children and grandchildren.