Here are our endorsements for the 2020 general election, and how we did them
Today we’re publishing a recap of the Orlando Sentinel’s endorsements for the 2020 general election, about threeweeks ahead of whenwe traditionally publish it.
To some voters, however, the full list might seem late. As of Friday, more than 1.5million voters in Florida had already cast their ballots by mail. That’s more than10 times the number processed at that same point in 2016.
It’s an astonishing number, driven in large part by Floridians who prefer mail voting over in-person voting during a pandemic. It also might portend a huge overall turnout for early voting, which begins on Oct. 19 in most Florida counties, and on Election Day, Nov. 3.
One of the reasons our endorsements weren’t completed even earlier is becausewe decided this year to interview all of the candidates in races where we planned to make recommendations to readers.
Many of the 46 endorsements below are the product of reporting that included virtual interviews with dozens of candidates running for congressional, state and local offices. Most candidates were willing to participate, with just 11of 74 declining our interview invitations.
For some, not attending was strategic. Jeremy Sisson, who’s running against popular incumbent Anna Eskamani for the state House District 47 seat, isn’t doing any debates or forums. Others, like Dan Webster in the District 11congressional seat, probably didn’t see an upside considering his incumbency and the GOP’s huge voter registration in the district. Still others, like Fred Hawkins Jr., who is running for state House in District 42, likely worried about the questions they would have faced. (Yes, we would have asked Hawkins about the pending felony charge that he impersonated a law enforcement officer.)
In addition to interviews, we combed through candidates’ voting records if they held office, checked their campaign websites, ran background checks, reviewed archived news stories about them and sometimes checked with trusted sources to get their thoughts.
Our first general election recommendation was published on Aug. 30 with our endorsement of Joe Biden for president, nearly two months ahead of whenwe traditionally publish our choice for president.
Of course, we had published an editorial in June 2019 saying we wouldn’t endorse Donald Trump because of his fundamental unfitness for office, an editorial position vindicated on a daily basis by the president’s words and actions.
Our interviews this year, and our decision-making, were significantly influenced by the candidates’ positions or voting records on issues affecting the state’s service class, the workers whose economic troubles have become even more evident in a pandemic-driven economy.
Even when the economy was thriving, theywere barely hanging on and largely ignored by elected officeholders at the state and local level.
That neglect was evident in the Osceola County Commission District 5 race, where one candidate said nothing could be done about the county’s affordable housing crisis and the other candidate appeared to be unaware of it. Their answers were so badwe didn’t make a recommendation in that race.
Officeholders must do better by these workers. Candidates who had no empathy or no plan to help workers were unlikely to get our support.
We consider these endorsements, which you can read at OrlandoSentinel.com/endorsements, just a piece of the information voters need to make informed decisions. Another piece is the interviews we conducted, which were recorded and posted at OrlandoSentinel.com/interviews. Watch them for yourselves.
Our endorsements and interviews also can be found in one place at OrlandoSentinel.com/voterguide, which includes links to news stories about the campaigns. You can also findmore about candidates at their websites, though fewer and fewer candidate websites or Facebook pages contain substantive information about their positions.
Here are our endorsements: