Kathleen Passidomo ’75: Elected President-designate of Florida Senate
Trinity Graduate Kathleen Passidomo ’75 Officially Selected President-Designate for the 2022-24 Legislative Term on October 19, 2021
Tallahassee, Florida — The Republican Caucus of the Florida Senate met on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, in the Florida Senate chamber and officially selected Senator Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) as the president-designate for the 2022-2024 legislative term. Senator Passidomo won the race within her party to be the president-designate in November 2019; the selection in the Florida Senate chamber on October 19, 2021, marks her official and formal selection.
The Trinity graduate will be sworn in as president of the Florida Senate in Fall 2022, after the November elections, and will serve as Florida Senate president through 2024.
Senator Kathleen C. Passidomo, 68, was elected to the Florida Senate in November 2016 after serving in the Florida House of Representatives since 2010. During the 2018-2020 legislative term, she served as Majority Leader of the Florida Senate.
Senator Passidomo earned her bachelor of arts from Trinity in 1975 and earned her law degree from Stetson University College of Law in 1978. She built a law practice around real estate and business law and has been practicing law in Naples for more than 40 years. She is a founding partner of the law firm of Kelly, Passidomo & Alba LLP.
Senator Passidomo was in the first group of attorneys in the state to obtain board certification in real estate law, and her peers elected her to serve as president of both the Collier County Bar Association and the Collier County Women’s Bar Association. She has received numerous awards including the AARP Capitol Caregiver Award in 2017 and 2018 and the PACE Center for Girls, Collier, Leadership Award in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Senator Passidomo will be the third woman to serve as president of the Florida Senate, following in the path of Senator Gwen Margolis (D-Miami), in 1990, and Senator Toni Jennings (R-Orlando), in 1996.
