Frederica Wilson

Who is Frederica Wilson?

Frederica S. Wilson is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2011. Located in South Florida, Wilson's congressional district—numbered the 17th during her first two years in Congress, and the 24th since 2013—is a majority African-American district that includes the southern parts of Broward County and the eastern parts of Miami-Dade County. Included within the district are Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Miramar, and North Miami. She gained national attention in early 2012 as a result of her high-profile comments on the killing of Trayvon Martin, who was a constituent of hers and whose family she knew personally.

Wilson, who describes herself as a "voice for the voiceless", is a member of the Democratic Party. Her seat was left open when the incumbent Kendrick Meek ran for a seat in the Senate in 2010.

Wilson is famous for her large and colorful hats, of which she owns several hundred. She has gone through efforts to get Congress to lift its ban on head coverings during House sessions, which dates back to 1837.