Susan Valdes is running for the District 62 seat in the Florida House of Representatives.

TAMPA – Hillsborough County School Board member Susan L. Valdes resigned her seat Friday (June 8) so that she can run for the Florida House of Representatives.

Valdes is required under state law to resign from the board so that she can run for another seat.

Her resignation, which would take effect in November, means Hillsborough County voters will have an additional school board race on the November ballot. The winner of that race would serve out the final two years of Valdes’ term, then would have to run again in 2020 for a full four-year term. Steve P. Cona III has announced his candidacy for the District 1 seat on the Hillsborough School Board.

Valdes announced her intention to resign from the school board and run for state House in a two-paragraph letter Friday to Hillsborough elections Supervisor Craig Latimer.

“This letter is my irrevocable resignation pursuant to Section 99.012(3), Florida Statutes, from the office I presently hold as Hillsborough County School Board Member, District 1, effective on November 6, 2018 , the date upon which I will assume the office of Florida House of Representatives, District 62 or such other date.as may be required by the aforementioned statute,” Valdes wrote.

Valdes was elected to the Hillsborough school board in November, 2004, and was re-elected in August 2008 and in November 2012. Valdes became school board chair Nov. 17, 2009, and again Nov. 18, 2014, after serving as vice chair in 2009 and 2013.

In 2015, she worked to establish a committee, Hispanic Educators for Change, which works to address the immediate needs of the growing Hispanic population in the school district. She has been on the Northwest Little League Board of Directors, the executive committee of the Lowry Park Zoo, and is vice chair of the Value Adjustment Board.

Valdes graduated from A.P. Leto Comprehensive High School and has earned a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University; she was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Everest University for her service to the Tampa community.

The District 62 seat in the Florida House is currently held by Democrat Janet Cruz, who is running for state Senate. District 62 includes Citrus Park, Carrollwood, Town ‘n’ Country, Egypt Lake-Leto, and a portion of Tampa.

Other candidates who have announced for the seat are Democrats Michael Alvarez, Alicia Campos, Christopher Carlos Cano, and no-party candidate Jason Alan Stuber.

The primary is Aug. 28. The general election is Nov. 6.

Susan Valdes | Hillsborough School | State House | Politics | Elections | Tampabay News

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