FLORIDA LAWMAKER WHO BACKED TRUMP DIES
Central Florida Republican Don Hahnfeldt, a former Navy officer and a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, has died.
“The entire Florida House mourns the loss of our colleague and friend, Rep. Don Hahnfeldt,” House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, said Monday on Twitter. “We honor and remember his service to our country and our state.”
Hahnfeldt, 73, died of cancer, according to a report in his hometown paper, The Villages Daily Sun. Hahnfeldt was a freshman lawmaker elected to the state House in 2016. His Navy career included command of two nuclear submarines.
Hahnfeldt, who lived in The Villages retirement community, represented House District 33, which includes Sumter County and parts of Lake and Marion counties. Hahnfeldt had opened a campaign account to run for re-election in 2018, The News Service of Florida reported.
Hahnfeldt said on his campaign website that he spent 32 years in the Navy, serving as commander of the Pacific Fleet’s Strategic Submarine Squadron and working to clean up radioactive waste after Russia’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
After moving to The Villages, Hahnfeldt won a seat on the Sumter County Commission in 2012, serving until he won a House seat.
After he left the Navy and before he was elected to the Sumter County Commission, Hahnfeldt ran a company that had business dealings with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chief who’s under indictment.
In the early 2000s, according to a November report by Politico, Hahnfeldt ran a company that hired Manafort to sell Russian-developed nuclear containment foam to the U.S. Energy Department. At one point, a Manafort-directed company bought more than 2 million shares of company stock.
Hahnfeldt’s death comes two weeks before the Jan. 9 start of the 2018 legislative session. He served on six legislative panels, holding the vice chairmanship of the House Local, Federal & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee.