Alcee L. Hastings, born in 1936, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida (1993- ). Hastings was born in Altamonte Springs, Florida. He received a bachelor’s degree from Fisk University in 1958, attended Howard University from 1958 to 1960, and received a law degree in 1963 from Florida A&M University. He practiced law from 1964 to 1977. He was a circuit court judge for Broward County, Florida, from 1977 to 1979 and then was appointed to a federal judgeship by President Jimmy Carter. In 1988 Hastings was impeached on bribery charges by the U.S. House and removed from office by the U.S. Senate in 1989. He ran for secretary of state of Florida in 1990 and lost.

When Florida’s 23rd Congressional District was created in 1992, it included the agricultural area around Lake Okeechobee as well as a strip of land tying together black middle-class neighborhoods west of Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Hastings ran to represent the district in the U.S. Congress. He won the general election with 59 percent of the vote and was returned to office in subsequent elections.