Lois Frankel

Early life and education

Frankel was born to a Jewish family on May 16, 1948, in New York City and received a bachelor's degree from Boston University in 1970. She earned a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973. Frankel moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1974.

Florida House of Representatives (1987–2003)

Elections

In 1986 incumbent Democratic state representative Eleanor Weinstock of the 83rd district decided to run for a seat in the Florida Senate. Frankel ran for Weinstock's open seat in the Florida House and defeated Republican nominee Gerald Adams 69%–31%. In 1988 she won reelection to a second term unopposed; in 1990 she again was unopposed.

In November 1991 Frankel resigned as state representative to run for Congress in 1992. Mimi McAndrews, a former aide of Frankel's, was elected to replace her. Frankel lost to fellow Democratic representative Alcee Hastings in the 1992 congressional primary. In 1994 Frankel defeated McAndrews in the Democratic primary for her old State House seat. Frankel won the November general election with 55% of the vote. In 1996, she won reelection to a fifth term with 68% of the vote. In 1998 Frankel was reelected to a sixth term with 64% of the vote. In 2000 she was reelected to a seventh term with 63% of the vote.

Tenure

During her first period as a state legislator, Frankel was State House Majority Whip. While in office from 1995 to 2003, she became the first female House Minority Leader in Florida's history and co-authored a change to Florida's already existing AIDS omnibus law originally passed in 1988. She left office due to term limits in 2002 after serving 14 years in the State House.

Committee assignments

Fiscal Responsibility Council

AIDS Task Force (committee chair)

Select Committee of the Whole

Select Committee on Child Abuse & Neglect (committee chair)

1992 congressional election

In 1992 Frankel retired from the State House to run for the newly created Florida's 23rd district. In the Democratic primary she came in first with 35% of the vote, but failed to reach the 50% threshold necessary to win outright and avoid a runoff election. In the runoff, former U.S. District Court Judge Alcee Hastings defeated Frankel 57%–43%.

2002 gubernatorial election

In 2002, Frankel entered and then dropped out of the 2002 election for Governor of Florida, in which Governor Jeb Bush won re-election.

Mayor of West Palm Beach (2003–2011)

On March 11, 2003, Frankel defeated incumbent Democratic West Palm Beach Mayor Joel T. Daves III in the mayoral election. She was endorsed in the race by former West Palm Beach Mayor Nancy Graham. Frankel won with 56% of the vote to Daves's 38%. She was sworn into office on March 27, 2003. In 2007 she was reelected, defeating Al Zucaro by 58%–42%.

On March 31, 2011, due to term limits, Frankel left office after two terms. In the race to succeed her, West Palm Beach city commissioner Jeri Muoio was elected that month with 51% of the vote, on a platform of business development and pension reform.

Frankel was also voted to be an at-large Florida delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

U.S. House of Representatives

She is the chair of the Elect Democratic Women PAC.

Elections

On March 21, 2011, Frankel announced that she would run in the newly redrawn Florida's 22nd congressional district in the 2012 House election. She was initially due to face freshman incumbent Republican Allen West, but redistricting had made the 22nd much more Democratic than its predecessor, prompting West to move to the neighboring 18th district and seek reelection there. On August 14 Frankel won the Democratic primary over Kristin Jacobs, and advanced to the general election against Republican Adam Hasner.

Frankel was criticized for accepting $20,000 from Digital Domain Media Group for her campaign five months after the company was awarded a downtown project that included incentives from the city of West Palm Beach, and in response vowed to give the contribution to charity. She won the general election on November 6, 2012, defeating Hasner 54.7% to 45.3%.

With no Democratic primary opponents, Frankel won the general election on November 4, 2014, defeating Republican Paul Spain, winner of his low-turnout primary, 58% to 42%.

For her first two terms, Frankel represented a district covering several coastal areas in southern Palm Beach County and northern Broward County, from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale.

After a Florida Supreme Court-ordered redistricting, Frankel's district was renumbered the 21st. It lost its share of Broward County, becoming a more compact district in southern Palm Beach County. The justices suggested that it was more logical to have just one district splitting Broward and Palm Beach counties. Her opponent was again Republican Paul Spain. The new 21st was no less Democratic than the old 22nd, and Frankel won with 63% of the vote to Spain's 35%.

With no primary or general opponents, Frankel was reelected.

With 86% of the vote, Frankel won the Democratic primary against Guido Weiss, a former adviser to Representative Tulsi Gabbard. Frankel went on to win the November general election, defeating Republican nominee Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and conspiracy theorist. Loomer's candidacy was widely considered a long shot, despite endorsements from high-profile Republicans including President Donald Trump, Representative Matt Gaetz, and former Trump adviser Roger Stone.

Committee assignments

For the 119th Congress:

Committee on Appropriations

Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (Ranking Member)

Caucus memberships

Black Maternal Health Caucus

Congressional Arts Caucus

Congressional Taiwan Caucus

United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus

U.S.-Japan Caucus

Medicare for All Caucus

Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment

Congressional Equality Caucus

Congressional Progressive Caucus (c. 2016–2023)

Political positions

Foreign

In 2017 Frankel supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying, "The President's announcement today is consistent with current U.S. law and reaffirms what we already know: Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel."

In January 2025, after the second Trump administration halted most United States foreign assistance, Frankel and Representative Gregory Meeks warned that interruptions to medicines supplied through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the President's Malaria Initiative could cost lives.

Frankel defended keeping the funding for PEPFAR during the 2025 rescissions package. In July 2025, Frankel and Representative Rosa DeLauro said that an isolated incident involving the program should not undermine its broader mission. A proposed $400 million reduction to PEPFAR was subsequently removed from the package. In May 2026, Frankel led Democratic members of the appropriations subcommittee in objecting to administration plans to withhold $19 billion in foreign assistance, including $3.2 billion in development-assistance and global-health funding.

Frankel was also the lead House sponsor of the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights Act, known as the Global HER Act, which would permanently repeal the Mexico City policy. That policy restricted U.S. funding for foreign nongovernmental organizations that provide, promote, or share information about abortion services.

Domestic

Frankel supports abortion rights and has made reproductive health policy a focus of her work in Congress. In 2023, as a leader of the House Democratic Women's Caucus, she opposed provisions in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that would have restricted access to reproductive health care for military personnel. Frankel and other caucus leaders said they would oppose final passage of the legislation if the restrictions remained. The provision that would have blocked the Pentagon's policy of reimbursing travel expenses for service members seeking abortions or other reproductive care in another state was subsequently omitted from the final compromise bill.

Frankel also opposed Florida's six-week abortion ban, which took effect in May 2024. She supported the proposed state constitutional amendment that year that would have protected abortion access before fetal viability.

Frankel supports gun control measures, which she calls "common-sense legislation." Specifically, she supports a high-capacity magazine ban, universal background checks, and a ban on bump stocks. Frankel supports repealing the 1996 Dickey Amendment, which discourages the CDC from researching gun violence prevention. Following the Pulse nightclub shooting, Frankel said, "This Congress offers lots of thoughts and sympathies when people are massacred by firearms, but no action to stop the carnage." After the Sutherland Springs church shooting, Frankel expressed her frustration with gun lobbying organizations and the inaction of Congress, saying: "We'll pause for a moment of silence and then this Congress will do nothing because the NRA has a stranglehold on it." She has an "F" rating from the NRA, indicating that the organization does not believe that she protects gun rights.

During her tenure in the House, Frankel has voted on several pieces of gun legislation. She voted against H. R. 38 (the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act), which would enable concealed carry reciprocity among all states. In March 2017 Frankel voted against the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, which would allow veterans who are considered "mentally incompetent" to purchase ammunition and firearms unless declared a danger by a judge.

In December 2022, Frankel voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, joining the House majority that approved the legislation after it was amended by the Senate. The measure requires federal recognition of valid same-sex and interracial marriages and requires states to recognize such marriages performed legally in other states. President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law on December 13, 2022.