Yvonne Hayes-Hinson to retire

Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, left, poses for a photo with Mary Sue Rich, during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Mary Sue Rich Community Center At Reed Place in Ocala on Jan. 10, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]

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Posted October 15, 2025 | By Andy Fillmore, [email protected]

Florida State Representative Yvonne Hayes-Hinson has decided to retire after six decades of public service as an educator and politician.

Hayes-Hinson, a Democrat, currently represents part of northwest Marion County and a portion of Alachua County, including the Gainesville area, in the Florida House. Her term expires in November 2026.

“It’s time to enjoy the fruits of my labor and find a way to take care of me,” she said in a recent phone interview.

But the 77-year-old Gainesville native is not without serious concerns about the future and what she sees as political trends.

“I’m having trouble finding common ground (with some legislative colleagues),” Hayes-Hinson said.

Hayes-Hinson said some legislators seem to “put aside their own values and points of view to acquiesce to one man” in a reference to President Donald Trump and the conservative Make America Great Again or MAGA movement.

Hayes-Hinson said some of her colleagues appear willing to put aside their own vision in pursuit of a perceived “pot of gold” but they may “want to look at the bigger picture before they acquiesce.”

She said some younger legislators “may not know the history of the Civil Rights Movement” and how persons of color struggled in the past. She said that as a person of color, she faced many challenges in life, including attending the University of Florida, where she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in special education in 1972.

The KKK used to be the threat to persons of color but now, Hayes-Hinson Indicated, the threat may come from mainstream America.

“It’s time for young people to rise up and create the community they want to raise their families in,” she stated. “There may have been racial division decades ago, but neighbors (of all colors) cared for each other. There were shared values and shared community.”

She said some of the Trump Administration’s actions amount to “pressure, retribution and racism.”

Hayes-Hinson feels the administration’s methods are sometimes heavy-handed.

“(Trump’s methods) mimics the mob. He certainly speaks their language,” she said.

Hayes-Hinson reacted to recent news reports that Republican State Rep. Kevin Steele filed a bill proposing each public state university and college name a roadway in honor of political activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in Utah on Sept. 10. The bill proposes that Stadium Road on the UF campus should be renamed Charlie Kirk Road. Hayes-Hinson said in spite of her personal outlook on the road renaming, she was elected to represent all of her constituents regardless of their views and would prefer the matter be “decided by the people.”

When asked about her proudest moment in public service, she pointed to her time with the public school system in Dade County while she lived in Miami from 1978 to 2003. She said while she served as principal at Robert Russa Moton Elementary School in Perrine, “We transformed a school in a low-income, drug-infested community into a school of excellence sought after by students from all income areas and cultures within a 50-mile radius.”

“Photography students photographed drug dealings adjacent to the campus in a journalism project, which led to law enforcement involvement by former prosecutor Janet Reno, who became a member of our school advisory team,” she stated.

After Hayes-Hinson’s current term expires, she said she plans to “to be a grandma, travel and do some gardening,” around her Gainesville home.

She’ll “try” to resist involvement in community affairs, she added.

To learn more, go to housedocs.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/custom/details.aspx?MemberId=4768&LegislativeTermId=91