William Gregory Steube ( ; born May 19, 1978) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. His district is based in Sarasota. A member of the Republican Party, Steube served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing the Sarasota-Manatee area from 2010 to 2016, as well as two years in the Florida Senate until 2018, representing Sarasota County and the western part of Charlotte County.
Early life
Steube was born on May 19, 1978 in Bradenton to Brad Steube, who served as Sheriff of Manatee County. He graduated from Southeast High School in 1996. He attended the University of Florida, receiving a degree in Animal Science in 2000, and then his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law in 2003. At UF, Steube was a brother of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. After graduation, Steube joined the United States Army and attended The JAG School at the University of Virginia and entered U.S. Army JAG Corps. He served from 2004 to 2008 and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Florida House of Representatives
When State Representative Ron Reagan was unable to seek reelection in 2010 due to term limits, Steube ran to succeed him in the 67th District, based in southern Hillsborough County, eastern Manatee County, and northern Sarasota County, stretching from Apollo Beach to Fruitville. He received an endorsement from U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan, who called Steube "extremely knowledgeable of the district and the district's issues." In the Republican primary, he defeated Jeremiah J. Guccione and Robert McCann with 53% of the vote to Guccione's 28% and McCann's 19%. He advanced to the general election, where he faced Democratic nominee Z. J. Hafeez and independent candidate John M. Studebaker. Both candidates opposed offshore oil drilling off the coast of the state, supported solar energy, and favored medical tort law reform "that they [felt would] increase access to health care for Floridians." Steube won 68% of the vote to Hafeez's 27% and Studebaker's 5%.
After the reconfiguration of state legislative districts in 2012, Steube's district was renumbered the 73rd district. The district was pushed further into Sarasota County while losing its share of Hillsborough County. Steube won his party's nomination unopposed, and moved on to the general election, facing only Bob McCann, who had previously run against Steube in the 2010 Republican primary, but was running as an independent. Steube and McCann disagreed over whether the state should expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with Steube opposed and McCann in favor, and over whether the state should fund charter schools, with Steube in favor and McCann opposed. Steube was endorsed by the Bradenton Herald, which praised him for his "strong first term and his qualifications", specifically calling him out for working to put two constitutional amendments on the ballot that provide tax exemptions to the spouses of deceased military veterans and property tax relief to low-income seniors. Steube defeated McCann with 74% of the vote. In 2014, Steube was reelected to his third term in the legislature without opposition.
Florida Senate
In 2016, Steube ran for the Florida Senate seat vacated by Nancy Detert, who was term limited. He defeated four other candidates in the Republican primary, receiving 31% of the vote, and won the general election against Democrat Frank Alcock, 59 to 41%.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2018
Steube ran for the Republican nomination for Florida's 17th Congressional District in 2018, a seat that was being vacated by Tom Rooney, who declined to seek reelection. He won the August 28 Republican primary. In the November 6 general election, he defeated Democrat Allen Ellison, who replaced the original Democratic nominee, April Freeman, after she died unexpectedly in September.
2020
Steube was reelected in 2020 with 64.6% of the vote, defeating Democrat Allen Ellison.
2022
For his first two terms, Steube represented a large swath of south-central Florida, from the outer suburbs of Sarasota and Fort Myers through the Everglades to the shores of Lake Okeechobee. However, after the 2020 census, his district was made significantly more compact, picking up all of Sarasota while losing most of its inland territory to the 18th district. The new 19th was no less Republican than its predecessor, and Steube easily won a third term.