Peter Rudy Wallace

Peter Rudy Wallace
Peter Rudy Wallace (photograph by Donn Dughi)
Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
In office November 22, 1994 – November 19, 1996
Preceded by	Bolley Johnson
Succeeded by	Daniel Webster
Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 52nd district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Sandra Mortham
Succeeded by	Margo Fischer
Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 56th district
In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Betty Easley
Succeeded by	Jim Davis
Personal details
Born	(1954-04-13) April 13, 1954 (age 63)
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Helen Wallace
Children	Daniel McSwain Wallace, Hannah Rudy Wallace
Profession	Attorney

Peter Rudy Wallace (born April 13, 1954) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 1994 to 1996.

Peter Rudy Wallace was born on April 13, 1954 to Martha Rudy and John Powell Wallace. He has four brothers, two younger and two older. His father was also a Democrat and an executive in the egg and poultry industry who founded the Wallace Hatchery and Wallace Chicks and was the first Chairman of the American Egg Board. His mother was a Republican who served on the Pinellas County School Board from 1972 to 1980. His great-uncle Henry A. Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States, his great-grandfather Henry Cantwell Wallace was the 7th United States Secretary of Agriculture, his grandfather Merle F. Rudy founded the Pinellas County Republican Party, and his aunt, Sally C. Wallace, served on the St. Petersburg City Council from 1976 to 1985.

Wallace graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in 1976 and with a J.D. in 1979. After graduating, he clerked for Judge Paul Hitch Roney on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1979 to 1980.

He was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1982. He ran in the 56th district to succeed the retiring Republican Betty Easley. He faced Republican George F. Hieber, II, the incumbent from the 58th district, and defeated him by 53% to 47%. He comfortably defeated Richard B. Badgley in 1984 by 58% to 42% and was then re-elected unopposed in 1986, 1988 and 1990. In 1992, he moved to the 52nd district and easily defeated R.J. Lonergan, Jr. by 63% to 37%. He was re-elected unopposed in 1994 and was also elected to serve as Speaker of the House that year, a race he had lost in 1989. He was the last in an unbroken line of Democrats to serve as Speaker that stretched back to 1885. As of 2014, he is the most recent Democrat to serve as Speaker: the House has been controlled by the Republicans ever since.