Candidate Profile: Gubernatorial Candidate Nan Rich

Nan Rich

Candidate: Nan Rich

Residence: Weston

Education: Attended University of Florida

Former Florida senate member Nan Rich will face once-more candidate Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary for Governor. As the underdog in the challenge for her party's nomination, Rich has stressed her liberal credentials in comparison to Crist, while questioning the stances on policy issues of her once-Republican opponent.

Born in New York City in 1942, Rich's family later moved to South Florida, where she attended and graduated from Miami Beach High School. She also attended the University of Florida from 1959 to 1961.

After serving two terms in the Florida House of Representatives starting in 2000, the candidate became a state senator in 2004. It was there that she became the first woman to serve as the leader of the Florida Senate Democrats.

Prior to her role in the Florida legislature, Rich was president of the National Council of Jewish Women from 1996-1999, and served on the Board for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. after her appointment in 1999 by President Bill Clinton.

In addition to claiming stronger liberal convictions than her opponent, Rich has also claimed an ability to engage in bipartisanship from her days in the Florida legislature.

Rich continues to face an uphill battle in the days before the primary. The candidate is still unfamiliar to the majority of voters, and as Crist has refused to debate her, there is little chance of a significant spike in her poll numbers before ballots are cast.