The Florida Senate directory lists Corey Simon (R) for the 2024–26 term and gives the county coverage as Consists of Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, Wakulla counties.
District map · 2022 Senate plan
Spatial footprint: Spans the eastern Florida Panhandle, Big Bend, and north-central rural corridors along the Georgia border south to the Apalachee Bay and Gulf Coast.
Municipal and urban centers: The dominant urban and governmental hub is Tallahassee (Leon County). Other key municipalities include Quincy and Chattahoochee (Gadsden), Monticello (Jefferson), Perry (Taylor), Live Oak (Suwannee), Jasper (Hamilton), Madison (Madison), Mayo (Lafayette), Crawfordville (Wakulla, unincorporated seat), Carrabelle and Apalachicola (Franklin), Cross City (Dixie), and Port St. Joe (Gulf).
Transportation corridors: Anchored east-west by Interstate 10 and U.S. Route 90; intersected north-south by U.S. 19, U.S. 27, U.S. 319, and the coastal Scenic Highway U.S. 98. Air access centers on Tallahassee International Airport (TLH), with regional maritime shipping out of the Port of Port St. Joe.
Environmental and coastal assets: Includes the Apalachicola National Forest, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve, Apalachicola Bay watershed, and the Suwannee and Ochlockonee river basins.
District population (2020 Census): Tabulated at approximately 486,331 residents under plan S027S8058, balancing below the statewide target senate district average of 538,455.
Racial and ethnic breakdown (district baseline): Approximately 59.0% Non-Hispanic White, 29.3% Black / African American, 7.4% Hispanic / Latino, and 2.4% Asian.
Electorate distribution: Leon County represents over 55% of the total registered voter population in SD 3, creating an urban core surrounded by 12 low-density, rural counties.
Voting-age trends: Gadsden County is Florida’s only majority-Black county and votes strongly Democratic along with Leon County; the remaining 11 rural and coastal counties vote heavily Republican, creating a competitive political landscape.
Gaps: Specific active voter registration totals fluctuate monthly per county; consolidated, real-time S027S8058 party registration totals are maintained by the Florida Division of Elections rather than published as a single static legislative report.
2022 General election: Challenger Corey Simon (R) defeated incumbent Senator Loranne Ausley (D) with 113,477 votes (53.0%) to 100,696 votes (47.0%), flipping a previously reliable Democratic seat.
2024 General election: Incumbent Corey Simon (R) won re-election against Democratic nominee Daryl Parks, securing 154,515 votes (55.7%) to 123,025 votes (44.3%) (certified totals viaBallotpedia Florida State Senate District 3 Overview).
Partisan dynamics: Historically a Democratic-leaning seat prior to the 2022 decennial redraw; redistricting excised Democratic-leaning portions of Calhoun and deepened rural representation eastward across Suwannee, Lafayette, and Dixie, giving the GOP an electoral edge despite urban Democratic turnout in Tallahassee.
State government and higher education (Leon County): Florida State Capitol complex, Florida State University (FSU), Florida A&M University (FAMU), and Tallahassee State College (formerly TCC) serve as the primary employers and economic engines.
Healthcare systems: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) and HCA Florida Capital Hospital (Leon); Doctors’ Memorial Hospital (Taylor); and specialized rural hospital clinics across the Big Bend.
Forestry, agriculture, and manufacturing: Timber and silviculture across Dixie, Taylor, Suwannee, and Madison; commercial tomato, timber, and produce farming in Gadsden; poultry and water bottling operations in Suwannee and Madison.
Coastal and maritime commerce: Oyster harvesting, commercial fishing, and tourism in Apalachicola Bay (Franklin) and St. Joseph Bay (Gulf).
State correctional facilities: Major public employers including Florida State Prison systems across Hamilton, Madison, Taylor, and Gulf counties.
Elected leadership:
Senator Corey Simon (SD 3 incumbent; former CEO of Volunteer Florida).
State House delegation: Overlapping districts include Rep. Allison Tant (HD 9 - Leon), Rep. Gallop Franklin (HD 8 - Leon/Gadsden), and Rep. Jason Shoaf (HD 7 - rural Big Bend).
Regional civic networks:
Apalachee Regional Planning Council (coordinating development and disaster recovery across Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, and Wakulla counties).
North Florida Economic Development Partnership (NFEDP), supporting rural infrastructure.
Big Bend Pop Warner and Corey's Kids (civic and youth athletic organizations founded/directed by Simon).
Major advocacy and business groups: Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Forestry Association, Associated Industries of Florida, and the Florida Farm Bureau.
Committee leadership (2024–2026 Term): Chair of the Senate Education Pre-K - 12 Committee; Vice Chair of Education Postsecondary.
Committee memberships: Rules, Fiscal Policy, Criminal Justice, Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice, Appropriations Committee on Pre-K - 12 Education, and the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.
Key sponsored legislation:
SB 644 (2024) (enacted as Ch. 2024-201), creating licensure standards for Rural Emergency Hospitals to protect critical medical access in rural counties.
SB 522 (2024)(enacted as Ch. 2024-43), renaming Tallahassee Community College to Tallahassee State College.
SB 632 / HB 87 (2024), regulating the taking of bears on private property.
Local funding appropriations requests (FY 2024–2025):
Madison County: $13,100,000 requested for the Consolidated Multi-Use Public Safety Complex (LFIR Request S3624).
Wakulla County: $2,610,000 requested for Elections Office Cloud-Based Security and Infrastructure Support across fiscally constrained counties (LFIR Request S2135).
Franklin County: $1,367,000 requested for residential bear-resistant refuse containers (LFIR Request S2121).
Suwannee County (Town of Branford): $500,000 for Hatch Park sports fields (LFIR Request S2221).
Correlation questions to test:
*Rural Emergency Hospital designation vs. small-county solvency:*Did the passage of SB 644 (2024) stem hospital closures in Taylor and Gulf counties, as documented by Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) license conversion records?
*Appropriations distribution vs. municipal electoral margins:*Do the local legislative funding requests (LFIRs) heavily favored in fiscally constrained counties (Madison, Franklin, Wakulla) correlate with Simon's widened vote margins in the 2024 general election relative to 2022?
Education chairmanship vs. charter/voucher expansion in the Big Bend: Does Corey Simon's chairmanship of the Pre-K–12 Education Committee correspond to private voucher uptake rates in Gadsden and Leon school districts as tracked in Florida Department of Education annual reports?
Research text: Gemini browser session, 2026-10-04. Officeholder and county coverage: Florida Senate directory. The graph keeps these leads separate from the reference office record.