In 2003, Kendrick B. Meek’s election in a Florida district
formerly represented by his mother, Carrie P. Meek, made
him the first African-American lawmaker to succeed his
mother in Congress. He advocated for minority-owned
business defense contracts, sought funding for freight rail
infrastructure, and supported the large Haitian population
in his district. “I am very respectful of the fact that the
reason I am able to assume this high office today is because
of the sacrifices and struggles and the battles for equal rights
that were fought by the generations that preceded me,”
Meek stated as he began his House service.1
Kendrick B. Meek was born in Miami, Florida, on
September 6, 1966, the youngest of three children raised
by Carrie Meek. Carrie Meek divorced as a young mother
and went on to build a political career in the Florida state
legislature and, eventually, as a Member in the U.S. House
of Representatives. Growing up, Meek watched his mother
interact with constituents wherever they went, including the
grocery store, and took inspiration from the example she
set. “She always loved people. And she still loves people to
this day. I learned an appreciation for loving people. When
I talked to people about running for public office, I said,
‘You can’t just like people; you have to love people. And
then you can be a better public servant if that’s already in
your mind, in your heart, as it relates to the work that you
have to do.’ That grew on me.” Kendrick Meek graduated
with a bachelor’s degree in criminal science from Florida
A&M University in 1989. After college, Meek worked for
the Florida highway patrol, earning the rank of captain.
For a time, he served on Democratic Lieutenant Governor
Kenneth Hood “Buddy” McKay Jr.’s security detail. In
1994, Meek won election to the Florida state house of
representatives and served four years before winning election
to the state senate. In both instances, Meek defeated
longtime Democratic incumbents. Meek has been married
twice and has two children, Lauren and Kendrick Jr.2
As a state legislator, Meek focused on education and
affirmative action, frequently coming into conflict with
Florida Governor Jeb Bush. In response to Bush’s proposal
to end the state’s preference for minorities in contracting
and university admissions in 2000, Meek led a 25-hour
sit-in, which sparked the largest protest march on the state
capitol in Florida history. The same year, he led the “Arrive
With Five” voting initiative, designed to bring women and
minority voters to the polls. This effort helped register the
greatest number of Black voters in state history. In 2002,
Meek set out to amend the state constitution to include a
limit on the number of students in public school classes. He
and his colleagues collected more than 500,000 signatures
to get the issue on the ballot, which passed with 52.4
percent of the vote.3
When Carrie Meek announced her retirement in July
2002 after five terms in the U.S. House, Kendrick Meek
became the immediate favorite to succeed her. His mother’s
popularity in the district, which was majority Black, heavily
Democratic, and weaved through southeast Broward
County and northeast Miami-Dade County, meant Meek
faced little opposition securing the Democratic nomination.
“Even though I was a policymaker and had a lot of
legislative accomplishments, I enjoyed the shade of Carrie
Meek,” he recalled. In the fall general election, he faced no
Republican opposition. In his 2004, 2006, and 2008 reelections,
he ran without Republican opposition.4
Meek was sworn into the 108th Congress (2003–2005)
in January 2003 with his mother looking on. He became
the second son, after James Kee of West Virginia, who
followed Maude Elizabeth Kee in 1965, to directly succeed
his mother in Congress. Throughout his tenure in the
House, Representative Meek served on the Armed Services
Committee, where he pushed to better equip troops fighting
in Iraq and Afghanistan. He urged the Republican Congress
and the George W. Bush administration to establish a
deadline to begin withdrawing troops out of Iraq. In the
108th and 109th Congresses (2003–2007), he served on
the Homeland Security Committee. In 2005, he became
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Management,
Integration, and Oversight. The subcommittee had
jurisdiction over airport and seaport security, customs
operations, aid to local and state governments, and
immigration inspections, detention, and enforcement
policies. Meek’s position gave him a hand in revamping
the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Customs
Service, and the Coast Guard, reorganizations that affected
some of the largest employers in his district.5
When Democrats captured the House majority for the
110th Congress (2007–2009), Meek retained his seat on the
Armed Services Committee and received an appointment
to the prestigious Ways and Means Committee. His
new assignment gave him the opportunity to oversee
Social Security, Medicare, and other tax and trade policy
programs. In 2007, Meek introduced the Freight Rail
Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act to provide freight
rail companies with a 25-percent tax credit for infrastructure
improvements. He told his constituents he supported this
effort because it would provide local jobs as well as decrease
both highway traffic and oil use. The measure had support
in the Senate but did not pass either chamber. Meek also
introduced several bills extending tax credits to businesses
that invested in reusable energy such as wind, solar, biomass,
or soybean fuel. Building on his work in the Florida
legislature, Meek introduced the High-Quality Education
Act in his first term. The measure was designed to provide
$200 million of grants to states with class-size reduction
programs such as expanding school buildings and hiring
teachers. He introduced the bill two more times, but the
House never voted on it.6
In the House, Meek was involved in the party’s campaign
and policy initiatives and helped raise money for Democratic
candidates. In the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, he gave
more than $325,000 to the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee. He was selected to serve as co-chair
of the Democrat’s “30 Something” working group, charged
with making connections with young voters. He was also
selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the 110th Congress to
serve on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee,
which makes committee assignments and helps set the
party’s agenda. In January 2007, Meek was appointed to the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Parliamentary
Assembly, an inter-parliamentary organization of legislators
representing NATO Members and associate countries.
Meek also served as chair of the board of directors of the
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.7
Meek’s congressional district contained the largest
Haitian population in the United States, and many of his
constituents had relatives on the island nation. Throughout
his career in the House, Meek consistently advocated for
Haitian immigration and trade. He frequently visited Haiti
and sought to liberalize the U.S. government’s policies
towards Haitian refugees. In 2006, Meek secured passage of
the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership
Encouragement Act as part of the Tax Relief and Health
Care Act. The bill aimed to stimulate Haiti’s textile industry
by allowing garments made with materials produced in
a third country such as China to enter the United States
duty-free. Meek successfully worked to extend the bill’s
trade provisions in 2008. After the devastating earthquake
that shook the island on January 12, 2010, Meek worked to
raise awareness and coordinate relief efforts. He supported
President Barack Obama’s decision to grant Temporary
Protected Status to all Haitians residing in the United States,
a policy that he had supported since his arrival in the House.8
After Republican Senator Melquiades R. “Mel”
Martinez of Florida announced his retirement, Meek
quickly announced he would run for the open seat in the
2010 election, citing his public service career as a trooper,
state legislator, and Representative. Instead of paying the
$10,000 fee to have his name automatically placed on the
Democratic primary ballot, Meek used a different option
and toured the state to meet voters and collect the 112,476
petition signatures—1 percent of the total number of voters
registered in the previous general election—required to
appear on the ballot. “Not only will we make history by
qualifying by petition statewide,” he told the press, “but it
will tell Florida I am interested in representing the entire
state of Florida.” Meek was successful both in getting his
name on the ballot and in winning the primary, beating
businessman Jeff Greene with 54 percent of the vote. He
lost, however, in November with only 20 percent of the vote
in a heated three-way race between former governor Charlie
Crist—who ran as an Independent—and the eventual
winner, former Florida house speaker, Marco Rubio. In
2011, President Obama nominated Meek as a United States
representative to the United Nations General Assembly. The
Senate confirmed his appointment in September. In 2018,
he joined a law firm as a senior advisor.9
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