Alfred James Lawson Jr. (born September 23, 1948)^[1] is an American businessman and politician who was the U.S. representative for Florida’s 5th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. The district, which was eliminated following redistricting during the 2022 Florida legislative session, stretched across most of the border with Georgia, including most of the majority-black areas between Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Lawson challenged fellow Congressman Neal Dunn in the newly redrawn 2nd congressional district, which pitted them against each other in Lawson’s home city. Lawson won the Democratic primary unopposed, and lost to Dunn in the general election.

Lawson served in the Florida legislature for 28 years, from 1982 to 2000 in the Florida House of Representatives and from 2000 to 2010 in the Florida Senate (representing the 6th district), where he was elected to serve as the Democratic leader and rose to the rank of “Dean of the Senate” before his election to Congress. After two failed campaigns for Congress, Lawson defeated incumbent Corrine Brown in the 2016 Democratic primary and won the general election.

Lawson was born in Midway, Florida, and attended Havana Northside High School, where he was a standout athlete in basketball and track. He went on to be a basketball star at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. After a brief stint as a professional basketball player with the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks,^[2] Lawson returned to Tallahassee, where he landed a job at Florida State University as an assistant basketball coach and took the Seminoles to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. Lawson also earned his Master of Public Administration from Florida State University.

Lawson is an Episcopalian.^[3]

Lawson ran for the Democratic nomination in Florida’s 2nd congressional district in 2010, challenging seven-term incumbent Allen Boyd.^[4] He narrowly lost to Boyd in the Democratic primary,^[5] and Boyd lost to Republican newcomer Steve Southerland in the general election by more than 12 percentage points.^[6][7]

Lawson ran for the seat again, and won the Democratic nomination against Blue Dog-endorsed state representative Leonard Bembry. He lost to Southerland in the general election by less than 6 points.^[8]

A lawsuit challenging the Florida congressional district map radically changed the 5th district. For the past quarter-century, the district and its predecessors had covered most of the majority-black precincts from Jacksonville to Orlando. The new map changed the district to an east–west configuration stretching across all or part of eight counties from Tallahassee to downtown Jacksonville. The redrawn district included Lawson’s home in Tallahassee, and Lawson announced he would run for the 5th on December 15, 2015, setting up a battle against Corrine Brown, the only representative the district had had since its creation in 1993.^[9]

The district’s demographics appeared to be against Lawson. While it now included most of Tallahassee, the capital and its suburbs only accounted for 32% of the district’s population, while the Jacksonville area-Brown’s base-accounted for 61%.^[10] But Lawson’s candidacy received a significant boost in July 2016, when Brown was indicted on federal corruption charges.^[11] He defeated Brown in the Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—on August 30. He then defeated Republican Glo Smith in the November 8 general election with 64% of the vote.^[12]

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Nutrition
  • Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
• United States House Committee on Financial Services
  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • Housing, Community Development and Insurance
  • Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions

• Congressional Black Caucus^[13]
• New Democrat Coalition^[14]

After the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, Lawson expressed frustration with the lack of action on gun regulation and placed blame on lobbying organizations, saying “the stranglehold of the gun lobby has gone on long enough”.^[15] Lawson supports restriction on assault weapons.^[16] In 2017, he voted no on the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which would require all states to recognize concealed carry permits issued in other states.^[17][18] Additionally, those with concealed carry permits would be permitted to carry concealed weapons in school zones.^[19] Lawson also voted no on the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, which would have allowed veterans who are considered “mentally incompetent” to purchase ammunition and firearms unless declared a danger by a judge.^[17][20]

Lawson was one of five house Democrats to vote for the U.S. to continue selling arms to Saudi Arabia and to support the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.^[21] This vote was part a vote series that allowed debate and votes on the Farm Bill in 2018, which he called a necessary step to provide assistance to farmers in his largely agricultural district.

• List of African-American United States representatives

• Congressman Al Lawson official U.S. House website
• Campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Appearances on C-SPAN