From elections to redistricting, Jenna Persons-Mulicka’s footprint grows in the House

Fort Myers Republican Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka emerged from the 2026 Session with high-profile policy wins on election integrity and efforts to curb foreign influence.

Now in her sixth year in the Legislature, Persons-Mulicka has carved out a policy portfolio focused on election law, government accountability and state security, while also holding one of the House’s most influential budget posts as Chair of the PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee and serving on the House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting.

“I’m proud that I had the opportunity to work on many pieces of significant legislation that I think will impact our state for generations to come,” Persons-Mulicka said. “Everything I work on, I look at, ‘How will this bill make our state better for the next generation?’ As a mom of a 2-year-old and a 22-year-old stepson, it is incredibly important to me to not only have a vision for the present but a vision for the future.” 

Persons-Mulicka sponsored a sweeping election package (HB 991) aimed at tightening voter identification standards and expanding citizenship verification requirements. The proposal, which ultimately passed after the House agreed to a Senate rewrite, reflects a yearslong focus for Persons-Mulicka on election law.

“One of the issues that was most important to me to tackle when I was first elected to the House was election integrity. I have personally witnessed issues with ballot harvesting back in Fort Myers that I believe impacted local elections and caused concerns regarding potential voter intimidation and so forth,” she said. 

“I was very pleased that our current CFO Blaise Ingoglia and the House took that on shortly afterward (in 2021) and we banned ballot harvesting. I debated in favor of that bill on the House floor, and that was a very memorable moment. So as the years progressed, that continued to be one of my primary focuses. Last year I ran the bill regarding constitutional amendments and the petition process, ensuring that we have integrity in that process.”

Persons-Mulicka filed election packages in 2025 and 2026 meant to align closely with President Donald Trump priorities at the federal level. The final version of the 2026 bill requires additional documentation to verify citizenship and removes certain forms of identification, including student and retirement home IDs, from the list of acceptable voter ID at polling places.

“I thought it was very important that we strengthen and tighten up our voter ID laws, and tackle head on the issue of citizen verification,” she said.

She also sponsored HB 905, the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement (FIRE) Act, targeting influence from foreign countries of concern.

While the Senate pared back portions of her original proposal, the final bill still includes restrictions on foreign agreements, expanded ethics requirements, and new training standards for public officials. One of the most debated aspects of the bill — banning prearranged surrogacy agreements involving citizens or residents of foreign countries of concern — was also approved as part of the package.

Persons-Mulicka said she hopes to see provisions cut from the legislation revisited in future Sessions, including foreign agent registration requirements and additional safeguards around government technology and critical infrastructure.

“I think we came up with a really good package. Not every part of that bill ended up passing, and there was a Senate amendment that final week of Session so there’s still work left to be done,” she said. 

“Hopefully we can get some of those pieces done in future years, including the foreign agent registration part and ensuring that our information technology that government is procuring doesn’t have kill switches and backdoors in them tied to foreign countries of concern, and ensuring we protect our critical infrastructure from also being accessed or controlled by foreign countries of concern.” 

She said the provisions that remained on the bill following Senate amendments were too important to risk the overall effort in the final days of Session.

“I looked at what is still left in the bill that is worthwhile and will make an immediate impact on Florida,” Persons-Mulicka said. “If there is good to be done, I don’t want my desire to have everything to stand in the way. When you are in the last week of Session you don’t have time to bounce it back-and-forth, so when you reject an amendment you always risk the bill dying when it’s out of your control in the other chamber.”

Persons-Mulicka also carried legislation important to Fort Myers Sen. Jonathan Martin aimed at increasing accountability for public employee unions. The bill requires a 60% vote by union members to certify, recertify and decertify a union, among other provisions. Persons-Mulicka said the measure is meant to ensure that unions remain under the control of employees they represent, and not the other way around.

“The biggest thing that it does is it ensures that unions that are the exclusive bargaining agent for public employees in the state are actually listening to those employees, and that those employees have the opportunity to hold those unions accountable” she said. 

Alongside her policy work, Persons-Mulicka plays a central role in budget negotiations as Chair of the PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee, overseeing a major portion of the state’s education spending plan. The House and Senate did not finalize the annual budget during the Legislative Session, leaving negotiations hanging until a Special Session in mid-April. Persons-Mulicka said she is focused on finalizing funding decisions that affect schools statewide.

“As the budget Chair, you work year-round on budget issues — whether through budget amendments or ensuring implementation is occurring or answering questions and diving into issues that constituents from all around the state bring to myself or members,” she said.

At the same time, Persons-Mulicka is one of 11 Representatives on the Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting, positioning her inside a largely veiled process expected to shape Florida’s political landscape ahead of the 2026 Midterms. Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for a Special Session starting April 20 to address redistricting, though the effort hinges in part on a U.S. Supreme Court case out of Louisiana.

Persons-Mulicka declined to discuss the redistricting effort outside of the public process. Still, her role on the panel reflects her growing influence within the House, particularly on complex and high-stakes policy issues closely aligned with Republican party priorities — this year spanning elections, foreign influence, education funding and public union policy.

Looking ahead, Persons-Mulicka said she plans to seek re-election and has one term remaining under current limits. Although she remains focused on ongoing work for the upcoming Special Sessions, she does so with at least $104,000 already in her pocket for her re-election campaign and no Republican opponent on file to challenge for her seat in the House.

For now, though, she’s enjoying a break from action back home with her sons.

“I am just thrilled at the moment to be home in Fort Myers with my boys, it’s nice to be there when your kids go to sleep and when they wake up and just spend time in your home and community,” she said.