Orlando congressional candidates
Congressional hopefuls also discuss health care at forum
debate guns, health care, immigration and other issues at a Tuesday forum.
Candidates from three Central Florida congressional districts debated each other — and in a few cases, agreed with each other — on issues including guns, health care and immigration at a forum in Orlando on Tuesday night.
The three Democratic incumbents, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park; U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando; and U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, DKissimmee, were joined at the Orlando Science Center by Republicans Wayne Liebnitsky, running in Soto’s District 9; and state Rep. Mike Miller, running in Murphy’s District 7; and Democratic challengers Chardo Richardson, running against Murphy; and Wade Darius, running against Demings.
All candidates were opposed to the Trump administration’s proposal for offshore drilling off Florida, supported statehood for Puerto Rico and called for greater bipartisanship in Washington, with most agreeing that improving U.S. infrastructure was the issue most ripe for bipartisan cooperation.
Murphy cited being named the seventh most bipartisan member of Congress, while Soto — whose primary opponent Alan Grayson didn’t attend — closed with the most vocal call to vote to ensure a Democratic Congress. Miller, whose primary foes Scott Sturgill and Vennia Francois also didn’t attend, praised Murphy on occasion while also providing the conservative viewpoint on issues, along with Liebnitsky.
But otherwise, the candidates — most of whom still face party primaries — ultimately divided along partisan lines, though Richardson and Darius carved out positions much further to the left of their opponents in calling for “Medicare for All” and publicly financed campaigns.
Democrats all supported universal background checks and bans on high-capacity rifles, with Murphy citing her successful amendment to end the 25-year ban on federal gun research — which drew praise for her from potential oher pponent Miller.
Soto cited the increase in mass shootings and gun deaths that occurred after the 10-year assault weapons ban expired in 2004 and called for it to be revived, while Demings said she took an oath to honor the Constitution as Orlando police chief and argued, “keeping guns out of [the] hands of terrorists [and] dangerous criminals has nothing to do with Second Amendment rights.”
Darius called for metal detectors and camera systems in schools, while Liebnitsky argued that the nation didn’t need more laws, adding, “I think the only way fight a bad guy is a
good guy fighting back.” Miller said the Constitution gives people the right to defend themselves, calling for “a conversation on the value of life in the community.”
The three Democratic members of Congress all spoke of visiting facilities where children were being held and sometimes separated from their parents because of President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy, with all three calling for it to end.
“I saw the cages,” Demings said. “Yes, they’re real.”
Soto said Florida farms have been relying on the labor of Central Americans for years, “and we just need laws that recognize that.” Murphy and Demings also called for border security through “21st Century technology” and not a wall on the Mexican border.
Richardson went further in echoing the increased progressive calls to defund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Miller said that most agreed on the need for a bipartisan solution, “whether 21st Century [technology] or the ‘build the wall’ conversation on the national stage. But we must secure the border first … through whatever means possible.”
He did say he agreed with Trump on the construction of a border wall, while adding the issue of Dreamers, adults who were brought into the country illegally as children, needs to be solved.
“The sins of the parents are not necessarily the sins of the children,” he said of Dreamers.
As for the cost of a wall, “How it’s going to be paid for, that’s the million dollar question,” said Liebnitsky, who supports it. “Or the $25 billion question.”
Miller and Liebnitsky also opposed calls for increases in the national minimum wage, saying it would raise costs and hurt businesses, while Democrats called for a $15 “living wage.”
Murphy said no one who works 40 hours per week should be in poverty.
The forum was co-sponsored by AARP Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Orlando Sentinel and WOFL-Fox 35.