Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson announced Friday she won’t seek re-election in November, ending nearly three decades as one of Miami's most prominent Black elected officials in a career included serving on the Miami-Dade School Board, the Florida Legislature and Congress.
"This has been a journey, but it's time,” the 83-year-old Wilson told a crowd of her mentees, loved ones and others at a street naming ceremony in Miami Gardens outside Frederica Wilson/Skyway Elementary School, where she once served as principal.
Born and raised in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood, Wilson began her education career as a teacher, Head Start coordinator, and elementary school principal.
She dedicated herself to community advocacy, notably mobilizing students to successfully close a hazardous local compost plant near Skyway Elementary.
"She and her students mobilized their community and lobbied government and school board officials until they achieved their goal," Wilson wrote in her congressional biography. "The compost plant closed its doors just short of two years after its opening."
That activist experience propelled her into public service, leading to seats on the Miami-Dade County School Board (1992), the Florida House of Representatives (1998), and the Florida Senate (2002), where she earned the reputation as the "Conscience of the Senate" and was well-known for her colorful hats.
One of her prominent projects in Miami-Dade County was the founding of the 5,000 Role Models of Excellence mentorship program in 1993. The program seeks to prevent underprivileged male students from dropping out of school and entering into the prison pipeline by matching them with older role models.
Wilson said the idea for the program came about when she heard that a student she had as the principal of Skyway Elementary killed another student in an act of violence, and no local news stations covered the murder.
" I said 'Nobody cares anything about these children being murdered?' So I said I'm running for school board, and my first order of business was the 5,000 Role Models, and the rest is history," Wilson said during the press conference.
Following the end of her term, Wilson said she will travel the country and expand 5,000 Role Models nationwide.
A number of local leaders in the crowd during the ceremony were brought up through the 5,000 Role Models program, and said Wilson showed them that young Black people could become elected leaders.
" It was this woman who has shown us that simply because the world may have written you off, it doesn't mean that God doesn't have the last word. It was this woman who looked at young boys who were told that they would never amount to anything, and told them that they too can walk the halls of Congress," said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kionne L. McGhee while wearing the red necktie emblematic of the role model program.
History of service
She was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. Her current 24th congressional district includes northern Miami-Dade County and southern Broward County.
Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Laura Kelley, in a statement on Friday, called Wilson “a fearless champion for Miami-Dade County and a voice for communities that too often went unheard.”
“Frederica Wilson has never simply represented our community — she has invested in it, nurtured it, and fought for it,” Kelley said. “Her work has always centered on creating pathways for opportunity and ensuring that young people understand that their future can be bigger than the circumstances around them.”
“She has consistently reminded our community that leadership is not about titles or recognition, but about lifting others up and ensuring no one is left behind,” Kelley added.
She praised Wilson for her creation of the 5,000 Role Models of Excellence Project, saying her work with the organization “will continue long after any elected office or title.”
READ MORE: 5000 Role Models of Excellence celebrates 31 years of mentoring generations of young boys in Miami
State Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, who is expected to run for Wilson’s seat in Congress, said Friday he first got to know her as his principal at Skyway and as part of the first Role Models program, a mentorship program for Black and Brown boys for about three decades.
“From the School Board, to the Florida Senate, to the United States Congress, she has spent decades opening doors, creating opportunities, and fighting for the people she serves,” Jones said. “She has worn many hats throughout her remarkable career, literally and figuratively, but the hat she wore best was that of a public servant.”
The press conference was attended by a gamut of local Black elected leaders from Miami-Dade County, Opa-Locka and Miami Gardens, who all said they live in Wilson's example.
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, who is also rumored to be considering Wilson's seat, declined to comment on any future political ambitions.
"I'm talking about her today. I'm not talking about anyone else," he said.
