Women to Watch: Vennia Francois, Candidate for Florida’s Seventh District
This profile is part of Republican Women for Progress’ Women to Watch series, which highlights Republican women running for office in 2018 who are committed to working through the legislative process in a bipartisan way in order to create effective policy at the local, state, and national levels.
Vennia Francois is running to represent the Seventh District of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives. Born and raised in Orlando, Francois is an ardent believer in the American Dream because she and her family have lived it firsthand.
As she explains in her recent video, economic opportunity is the foundation of the American Dream. Francois strongly supports the Republican tax reform package because increased wages, investment in business, and job growth are critical to a healthy economy. Reducing the tax burden and regulations impacting business promotes positive growth, and keeping taxes low for the middle class helps families.
Born to first generation immigrants, Francois uniquely understands the importance of repairing our broken immigration system. First, strengthening border security by utilizing available technologies and better equipping our border patrol, which would also help combat illegal drug and human trafficking. Second, by requiring employers to verify immigration status. Finally, developing a process for Dreamers to eventually become naturalized citizens because children should not be punished for any illegal acts of their parents.
As the first college graduate in her family, Francois believes in the power of education for economic opportunity and sees rapidly increasing student loan debt as a critical issue. She would address this issue by reforming federal loan programs, which have allowed tuition to soar and have left young people with insurmountable debt.
Francois attended University of Florida, before transferring to Lee University, and later graduated from Florida A&M Law School. Following law school, Francois worked for Republican Senators Mel Martinez and George LeMieux before transitioning to Lockheed Martin and the SEC. She is an active member of the Republican National Lawyers Association, the National Federation of Republican Women, and Calvary Assembly of Winter Park where her family has worshipped for forty years.
Francois’ primary is coming up on August 28th, and the rest of her policy positions can be found on her website.
Disclaimer: Inclusion of a candidate in RWFP’s Women to Watch series does not constitute an endorsement by the organization or its members.
