This election is the one in which national issues have spilled over into local elections more than any of the seven elections I have campaigned in so far.
From school board races to county commission races, candidates seem to define themselves based on their federal policy positions.
But after eight months of running for the Senate, I've learned that when the heated ideological debates die down, what remains unresolved and unsettling are the food issues — the financial problems that prevent moms and dads, seniors and business owners on fixed incomes from enjoying dinner — and many voters are tired of hearing the story from both parties.
The cost and availability of housing. The doubling of energy prices at the gas station and electric meters. Property insurance, if you can get it and afford it. These are the things voters talk about when I meet with them after church, or stop by their workplaces, or stay after forums to ask them things they didn't ask when the lights were on.
The people of Northwest Florida are happy to have me here. Donald TrumpI support the Governor. Ron DeSantis If he wants to send more illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, Kamala Harris I’m a socialist welterweight. I am. But they want to know if I realize that Tallahassee has a “food at home” problem and isn’t doing enough to solve it.
A high school teacher drives 40 miles to work because he can't buy or rent a house close to his school. A farmer whose land borders Alabama and is as far away from Florida saltwater as possible told me his insurance doubled last year and doubled again this year, but he has never filed a claim. He is preparing for his insurance to be cancelled. A Sharing and Caring volunteer cried when he spoke of the alarming increase in seniors in our middle-class neighborhood who can't afford the electricity bill to buy groceries.
Most people know that Congress has taken important steps toward more affordable housing. Kathleen Passidomo Many people are aware that laws have been passed to reduce insurance fraud and excessive litigation. Some of these laws are finally starting to take effect, but others will take years to fully implement. It is true that the Public Utilities Commission, not Congress, sets utility rates. But many of the people I visit are not in the mood for the long haul and are not interested in holding jurisdictions accountable. They have to pay their bills this month. They are not satisfied with the status quo.
Perhaps this time we will learn more by listening than by talking.
I know that one Senator, or even all of us in the Senate, can't solve property insurance, energy costs, or housing affordability. Some of those problems won't be fully solved until we have better federal policies and partners. But what I've learned in this race is that the “kitchen table” priorities for my neighbors will become my legislative priorities if I win.
Refugees from blue states are still coming. They are attracted by DeSantis' success in making us “Free Florida.” They're happy that decades of Congress have kept us “Low Tax Florida.” But migration has slowed in recent years as cost factors of insurance, housing and energy have pushed back.
We must create an Affordable Florida for young families looking to build a life here, for business owners struggling with energy costs, for people on fixed incomes who have to buy insurance they can't afford because of their mortgage, and for people who want to move here from other states.
The future we must create is an affordable Florida.
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Don Gates Former President of the Florida Senate. Running to return to the Senate to represent the 1st District. This is his eighth election, having won his first seven.
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