Lois Frankel

Lois Frankel's abstract paintings began as doodles during legal work and legislative meetings, until a friend gave her canvas and brushes for Hanukkah.¹ Her congressional biography still lists painting among her interests and describes her as the mother of a Marine veteran and grandmother of two.²

Frankel graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Boston University in 1970 with a degree in psychology, having taken part in student government and protests against the Vietnam War.¹ Growing up in Great Neck, New York, she played street sports as well as high school basketball and softball; she later described herself as an athlete and tomboy.¹ After graduating from Georgetown's law school in 1973, she moved to West Palm Beach, worked as an assistant public defender and helped establish a local chapter of the National Organization for Women.¹

She entered Florida's House in 1986 and later became its first female minority leader.¹ She served as West Palm Beach mayor from 2003 through 2011 and entered Congress in 2013.³

Now the lead Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee covering national security and the State Department, she focuses on reproductive rights, Social Security, Medicare and affordable family care.² She faces Republican financial adviser Deborah Adeimy in the redrawn 23rd Congressional District in 2026.³