Florida roots
Our Story
Sixth-generation Floridian
Suzanne Boyd
I am Florida. I'm the sixth generation of a North Florida farm family, raised in Monticello on land we've worked for generations. I grew up climbing giant oak trees and swimming in crystal-clear springs. My 80-something dad still runs our farm and works our cattle every single day. Those roots aren't just part of my past. They're part of who I am.
Monticello was the kind of place where everybody knew everybody. I graduated high school with 19 classmates, and at 14 I was crowned the local Watermelon Queen and got to appear on Tallahassee TV. That little taste of storytelling planted a seed.
My love of journalism took me to the University of Florida, then to TV news in Sarasota and West Palm Beach. For 25 years, I listened to Florida's stories, told by families in their own voices.
I've lived in nearly every part of this state, navigated its waterways, walked its paths and spent my life on its beaches. I know how different each part is, but what we share is bigger than what divides us.
Delray Beach has been home for almost 30 years. It's where I raised my children, and after the news business I worked for Downtown Delray and saw how local government works.
Both my parents grew up in Florida: my mom in St. Petersburg, my dad a fifth-generation Floridian from North Florida. They passed their love of this state down to me, and I've passed it on to my kids.
We all want to protect what makes Florida precious: our beaches and springs, our lakes and rivers, our farmland and the Everglades, and most of all, our people. The farmers and fishermen, the teachers and nurses, the families who have been here for generations and the ones who just arrived. They are Florida, too.
I built this site to find people like me: people who cherish Florida and want to reclaim her from those who only want to use her up. That starts with showing up for one another and voting for the future we want to share.
If that's you, welcome home.
Farmer ยท Public servant
Allen Boyd
My dad, Allen Boyd, is a fifth-generation North Florida cattle farmer. He grew up working the family land in Jefferson County, graduated from Jefferson County High School in 1963 and Florida State University in 1969, then served as a U.S. Army infantry officer with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam. After that he came home and went back to the cattle.
Folks around Jefferson County kept asking him to say out loud what they were already feeling. When he first ran for office, he ran as a farmer from rural North Florida. He had seen what happens when rural families and small farms get treated like an afterthought, and he wanted a voice for them where the decisions got made.
He served in the Florida House from 1989 to 1996, rising to majority whip, and then represented Florida's 2nd District in the U.S. Congress from 1997 to 2011, serving on the Appropriations and Budget committees. In Congress, he was part of the Blue Dog Democrats, a caucus of fiscally conservative Democrats. He brought the habits of the farm to the Capitol: show up early, learn the details, and stay until the job is done.
Now, in his 80s, Dad is still running our family's farm, including our cattle farm, and he still works the cattle every single day. The land never let him go. It's his everyday life, and it's a big part of where my own love of Florida comes from.
Why we're doing this
I am Florida. My family's roots run six generations deep in this soil, and my children still call this state home. From Monticello to Delray Beach, from our farm to the springs and the Everglades, what we share is worth protecting. This is about our land, our water and our people. If you cherish Florida and want to help reclaim her, welcome home.
Suzanne