(AP) -- The new speaker of the Florida House is one of the youngest in state history.
Will Weatherford is 33 and has made a rapid rise up the political ladder. The Wesley Chapel Republican started as a campaign worker 10 years ago for former state Rep. Allan Bense of Panama City and wound up marrying Bense's daughter.
Politics is in Weatherford's blood. His grandmother ran for governor in Arizona and his great grandfather was a state senator in Oklahoma.
One of Weatherford's primary goals for the 60-day legislative session that begins March 5 is to eliminate guaranteed pension benefits for newly hired state employees as a way to reduce the cost of paying for them. Instead, all new hires would go into the state's defined contribution plan, which is currently optional.
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