Michelle Salzman

Salzman was raised in Pensacola, Florida. After graduating high school in 1995, she says she joined the Army when she was 17 to escape an abusive home. Salzman states that her father was an abusive alcoholic and her mother became addicted to opioids when she was in middle school; Salzman has stated that both of her parents died at an early age from opioid addiction. On February 16, 2022, Salzman stated, while debating in support of an anti-abortion bill, that as a child, her uncle regularly sexually abused her and her sister. She served as part of the NATO forces in Bosnia where she says she was raped by her commanding officer while deployed. She got married in the Army, but separated after they had two children. She returned to Pensacola where she became an exotic dancer. She obtained an Associate of Applied Science degree from Pensacola State College

In February 2022, Salzman was recorded explaining why she would not support a Constitutional Carry bill in the Florida Legislature. She was accused of threatening the group that published the recording.

In April 2021, Salzman was quoted as saying that the issue holding her back from prioritizing the cleanup of a toxic landfill in her district was that the surrounding residents were Democrats. “They’re Democrats. They vote Democrat,” she said. “I put signs out in Wedgewood, and every time I put them out, the next day, they’d be gone. You know, my dad lives right there … we went through more signs in Wedgewood than anywhere, but there’s just very few people that vote Republican over there.” She continued, “So it’s nothing about the environment, nothing about landfills, nothing like that. So not only is it not the people that don’t vote for me, but it’s also nothing in the priority list of what folks in District 1 said they wanted me to do as a state representative.”

In March 2021, Salzman was accused by Representative Omari Hardy of calling Representative Webster Barnaby the chamber's "token Black Republican." Salzman vehemently denied making the remark.

Salzman was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2020 after defeating incumbent Republican Mike Hill in the primary. She was subsequently re-elected in 2022, defeating Hill in a primary rematch.

Michelle Salzman (née Hisle, born July 5, 1977) is a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives representing the state's 1st District, which includes the northern portion of Escambia County. She was elected to the seat in November 2020, after she defeated Democratic candidate Franscine Mathis in the general election. Prior to that she defeated incumbent Mike Hill in the Republican primary in August 2020.