Jackie Kellogg, a long-time Key Biscayne education leader and Democratic Party activist, filed papers to reclaim Florida House District 113 for her party, a seat that Rep. Vicki Lopez captured for the GOP in 2022 by just 825 votes.
Kellogg, 56, stressed her passion for education and environmental issues she believes are not being handled well at the state level. As an elected PTA coordinator last year, she served 230 schools in the County’s central district. Locally, she has run Key Biscayne athletic programs for decades. And she works as a program coordinator at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Nature Center in Crandon Park.
“These are my three things, public school education, environment, reproductive health care,” Kellogg said. She said Lopez should not get a pass on the abortion issue merely because she voted against Florida’s new six-week abortion ban.
“That’s not something you kind of like halfway, put up your hand about,” saying she is a strong proponent of Amendment 4, which would protect abortion rights in the Florida Constitution.
Kellogg’s entry into the race came amid a bit of a kerfuffle involving another Democrat, Jenny Lee Molina, an aide to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Molina abruptly exited the race shortly after she’d submitted paperwork when she learned she’d have to quit her job in the Mayor’s office.
Kellogg, who is the president of the Key Biscayne Democrats and has held a number of other local party positions, acknowledged that Lopez will be formidable. Lopez has championed condo reform in the Legislature, and more recently intervened in a Miami traffic meltdown that left thousands of Miami motorists stranded on the Rickenbacker Causeway.
If no one else files by June 14, Kellogg will avoid a primary and be on the ballot against Lopez in November.
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Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.