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Carolina Amesty
Carolina Amesty (Republican Party) was a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 45. She assumed office on November 8, 2022. She left office on November 5, 2024.
Amesty (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Florida House of Representatives to represent District 45. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Carolina Amesty lives in Windermere, Florida. Amesty graduated High School from West Oaks Academy. She earned an A.A. from Seminole State College and a B.A. in political science and pre-law from the University of Central Florida. Amesty's career experience includes working as a businesswoman and university vice president. She served as President of the Orlando Republican Women Federated.[1][2][3]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Amesty was assigned to the following committees:
Elections
2024
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 45
Leonard Spencer defeated incumbent Carolina Amesty in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 45 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Leonard Spencer (D) | 50.9 | 48,435 |
 | Carolina Amesty (R) | 49.1 | 46,809 | |
| Total votes: 95,244 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Leonard Spencer advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 45.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Carolina Amesty advanced from the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 45.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Amesty received the following endorsements.
2022
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 45
Carolina Amesty defeated Allie Braswell in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 45 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Carolina Amesty (R) | 53.3 | 35,595 |
| Allie Braswell (D) | 46.7 | 31,160 | ||
| Total votes: 66,755 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Allie Braswell advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 45.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Charles Law Jr. (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 45
Carolina Amesty defeated Bruno Portigliatti, Vennia Francois, Mike Zhao, and Janet Frevola in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 45 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Carolina Amesty | 45.4 | 5,819 |
 | Bruno Portigliatti | 21.8 | 2,795 | |
 | Vennia Francois | 16.2 | 2,068 | |
 | Mike Zhao | 12.1 | 1,554 | |
| Janet Frevola | 4.4 | 568 | ||
| Total votes: 12,804 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Amesty's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Carolina Amesty did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Carolina Amesty completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Amesty's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- Common sense Leadership
- Economic Opportunity for All
- Education is the key to successful communities
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Florida scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
In 2024, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 9 to March 8.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators were scored based on their votes on health care, the economy, public schools, affordable housing, clean energy and water, reproductive rights, the freedom to vote and more.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Florida State Legislature was in session from March 7 to May 5.
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Noteworthy events
Felony charges, criminal complaint (2024-2025)
On August 29, 2024, Rep. Amesty was charged with felony counts of forgery, uttering a forgery, false acknowledgement or certification by a Notary Public, and notarizing your own signature. The charges are in relation to activities during her time serving as an administrator at Central Christian Academy, a private christian school in Florida operated by her family. [4]
“This prosecution, initiated just a few weeks prior to absentee ballots being dropped, is based on misleading reports from a partisan newspaper about a notarization of an employee verification background report,” Rep. Amesty’s campaign said on X in response to the charges. “Rep. Amesty calls for a speedy trial, looks forward to her day in court, and is confident of her public vindication.” [5]
On January 17, 2025, the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced a criminal complaint filed against Amesty. She was charged with two counts of theft of government property related to COVID relief fraud. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. [6]
In July 2025, the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida informed Amesty's attorney that she would not be indicted and that the federal government had concluded its criminal investigation related to COVID relief fraud.
“On July 28, 2025, counsel for Ms. Amesty learned that the government had ceased its criminal investigation related to grand jury proceedings it referenced in its July 11 filing and withdrew its outstanding subpoenas. We understand that the government no longer plans to seek an indictment,” wrote Amesty's attorney, Brad Bondi.[7]
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Florida House of Representatives District 45 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Carolina Amesty," accessed December 11, 2022
- ↑ Florida House of Representatives, "Carolina Amesty," accessed December 11, 2022
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 8, 2022
- ↑ ‘’Andrew A. Bain - Florida State Attorney, Ninth Judicial Circuit‘', "Orange County Grand Jury Indicts Representative Carolina Amesty,” August 29, 2024
- ↑ [https://x.com/carolina_amesty/status/1829243287103824250 ‘’Twitter/X (@carolina_amesty)’’, “Statement from the Carolina Amesty Campaign," August 29, 2024]
- ↑ ‘’United States Attorney's Office Middle District of Florida’’, “Windermere Woman Charged With COVID Relief Fraud," January 17, 2025
- ↑ ‘’Florida Politics’’, “Amnesty for Carolina Amesty: Feds won’t pursue criminal case over COVID loans, defense lawyer says," August 6, 2025
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kamia Brown (D) |
Florida House of Representatives District 45 2022-2024 |
Succeeded by Leonard Spencer (D) |
