Among the key races on the general election ballot for Wellington voters will be a sharply contested contest in State House District 93, which features incumbent State Rep. Katherine Waldron, a Democrat, being challenged by former Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig, a Republican. District 93 includes all of Wellington and western portions of Greenacres and Lake Worth.
ANNE GERWIG
Gerwig recently stepped down as Wellington mayor due to term limits and now has her eye on representing residents in Tallahassee.
“I have lived in this area for 55 years, and in Wellington for 34 years,” she said. “My service to the community is unmatched through 14 years in local government, six years as a councilwoman and the past eight years as mayor. I have also served on numerous local, county and state boards and committees, where I have advocated for many issues, including clean water, transportation, traffic, affordable housing, small businesses, homelessness and more.”
Gerwig describes herself as “results driven” and wants to focus on quality-of-life issues.
“Our families are struggling with affordability due to the high cost of homeowners’ insurance and the concern about affordable housing in general,” she said. “Costs have risen and not stabilized… We want to make sure that our children can afford to live here and that our seniors receive the services they need. Traffic due to the fast-paced growth west of us is not only an inconvenience, but also a safety concern.”
Gerwig said she plans to work in Tallahassee to help homeowners protect themselves.
“We need to make funds available to help our residents harden their homes against future storms,” she said. “The insurance situation is multi-faceted, but it comes down to risk. The fraud in the system has been ongoing, and some measures have been taken to address that. More can be done to hold insurance companies to their obligations, and to help consumers understand their coverage.”
Aside from lowering the cost of homeowners’ insurance, Gerwig also wants to work in Tallahassee on increasing teacher pay and direct classroom funding.
“The disconnect between local governance and the legislature is also concerning,” she added. “Not many representatives have come from municipal positions. I have experienced the ill effects of top down, one-size-fits-all policies. I can clearly articulate the effects of these decisions. Group homes, corporate owned short-term rentals, school start times and giving utilities free rein over our rights of way, are a few examples of decisions that have been made without local input. I can share my experience and change the process to provide solutions.”
Several of the issues she plans to focus on have a particular interest for Wellington residents.
“We are excellent stewards of the land through our focus on sustainable practices,” Gerwig said. “I will continue to support the conservation grants that helped to expand the Wellington Environmental Preserve, which actually affects the entire region. These are the issues that are best addressed at the state level. Also, the concern about corporate-owned rentals, particularly the short-term rentals used as party houses. State law has limited our ability to control this issue, and more tools are needed. This is more than an inconvenience, as it compromises public safety and puts our neighborhoods at risk.”
Gerwig believes that voters should choose her due to her focus on public service and deep understanding of the area.
“I have made tough decisions, and they have proven to be good ones over the years,” she said. “The Keely Spinelli grant is an example that I am most proud of. We worked together with our local schools to provide funding for services for the lowest-performing students and allowed for innovation in the process. I have raised all three of my children here, built a small business, and faced the same challenges as our residents over the years. I am best equipped to serve this region and willing to do the hands-on work that is required.
Gerwig has been married to her husband Alan for 34 years. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.
Aside from her 14 years of service on the Wellington Village Council, she served on the board of several local, regional and state organizations, including as past president of the Palm Beach County League of Cities and on the executive board of the Florida League of Cities.
Learn more about Gerwig’s campaign at www.annegerwig.com.
KATHERINE WALDRON
After serving for six years on the Port of Palm Beach Commission, Waldron won a crowded primary and then a razor-close election victory to take the District 93 seat in 2022.
“I am the incumbent state representative and am a moderate Democrat who has a history of working across the aisle,” she said. “I understand the legislative process, have a strong business background and a long history of community involvement. I believe as a state representative, my job is to work for my constituents, help represent them in Tallahassee, and work with them on their issues closer to home.”
Waldon added that working across the aisle, she passed the most bills of any freshman Democrat and brought the district millions in appropriations.
“I have never supported focusing on culture wars, which really amounts to government overreach and has only divided our community,” she said. “I also believe politicians should be truthful and campaign on their accomplishments and not try to run a destructive attack campaign. Our residents deserve better.”
Waldron said that she will focus on the issues impacting residents in their day-to-day lives. These include protecting quality of life, dealing with insurance rates and condo fee hikes, and protecting the environment.
“Homeowners’ insurance is not fixed, and with the recent devastation from Hurricane Helene, insurance rates are likely to further increase,” she said. “Despite special sessions held in recent years, to ‘fix’ the issue, the Republicans have chosen these special sessions to diminish homeowners’ recourse and handed insurance companies $3 billion of taxpayer money for their reinsurance. On top of this, our auto insurance is one of the highest in the nation.”
She supports a special session to deal with the huge increases in condo fees being felt by many residents. “In my district, there are areas where residents have gone from paying $200 a month to more than $1,200 a month due to homeowners’ insurance increases, the new regulations around reserve funding and the structural engineering requirements,” Waldron noted.
When it comes to protecting the environment, she pointed to a recent state attempt to develop part of Jonathan Dickinson State Park, which was stopped due to a public outcry.
“This was a wake-up call for many, showing the potential loopholes and vulnerabilities with an administration wanting to do an end-run around what they know the public does not want and has never asked for,” Waldron said. “Now the legislature must work, in a bi-partisan manner, to enact rules that will prevent any future attempts to develop our state parks.”
Among her top goals is to continue helping her constituents resolve their issues.
“This has included helping parents get their school voucher payments; working with FPL to replace streetlights that have gone out; helping teachers get their certificates from the Florida Department of Education when unnecessarily delayed; and helping residents wind their way through bureaucracy to start receiving food stamps for their disabled child,” Waldon said.
She believes that many of these issues are of particular interest to Wellington residents. “Protecting our environment, including our state parks from unnecessary development, is extremely important to Wellington residents,” she said.
Waldron also seeks to protect public schools from cuts harming teachers’ ability to properly teach students and ensure that there is the correct amount of infrastructure to alleviate congestion and to keep up with future, already approved developments. She also supports protecting a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions.
Waldron describes herself as a strong legislator who has passed important bills.
“During my term as a representative and more recently while campaigning, I have been able to meet with thousands of constituents one on one,” she said. “This allows me to fully understand the neighborhoods and the different issues our communities are concerned about.”
Waldron added that the district is diverse with different priorities, from Greenacres trying to move away from septic toward sewer, to Wellington residents concerned with unchecked development.
“I moved down here more than 20 years ago from the Washington, D.C., area and have lived in other states,” she said. “As a result, I have a broader perspective on the way other state legislatures work, as well as what works and what does not. Legislation that may seem intuitively a home run to fix an issue, may have unintended consequences once implemented… It is important to have as broad a perspective as possible.”
Learn more about Waldron’s campaign at www.votekw.com.
