Florida House District 32: Where Brown, Sabatini stand

Both candidates seeking to succeed state Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, support expanding vocational schools. But Democrat Cynthia Brown and Republican Anthony Sabatini don’t see eye to eye on many other issues.

Metz, who had been term-limited, vacated his seat early in July to become a circuit court judge. Gov. Rick Scott appointed him to fill a Lake County court vacancy.

The District 32 seat takes in much of Lake County, generally from Leesburg to the south.

The election is Nov. 6. worked as a public specialist for NASA.

Sabatini, 29, was elected to the Eustis City Commission in November 2016 and resigned in May to concentrate on his state House campaign. He is an infantry officer in the Florida Army National Guard and a University of Florida College of Law graduate. He moved to Howey-in-the-Hills, which is in the district.

Both were victorious in the Aug. 28 primary, Brown over a fellow Democrat and Sabatini over two GOP opponents. affairs

Education is a platform issue for both candidates.

Sabatini said he’s heard from many people on the campaign trail that employers are struggling to find skilled workers in almost any trade and believes there should be short-term and low-cost educational options.

“I want to see those vocational programs get innovated, boosted and diversified,” Sabatini said.

Brown said she would also work to strengthen the public school system by pushing for an overhaul of the formula that determines how much state funding counties receive and shift the focus of teaching from standardized testing.

“I hear more complaints about that from the teachers that I meet with and it’s gotten out of control — they can only teach to the test,” Brown said. “It’s taking the creativity out of the classroom and the joy of learning from students.”

Regarding affordable health care, Sabatini said he believes the key is free-market reforms, more competition and transparency among insurance providers.

“I liked the bill that [President Donald] Trump signed the other day, which essentially banned gag clauses that allow pharmacy benefit managers to disallow pharmacists from telling people certain drug prices,” Sabatini said.

Protecting the environment is another priority for Brown, who said she will oppose offshore drilling and fracking, which she said could threaten the aquifer.

“I’m going to work to keep our lakes clean and where they’re not, work to get the funding to clean them up,” Brown said. Sabatini, who said his experience as a Eustis commissioner gives him an advantage of understanding how local government works, has been critical of Brown’s background as a lobbyist.

“Government accountability is one of the most important functions of the state,” Sabatini said. “She’s extremely, extremely sympathetic to the amount of power lobbyists have in Tallahassee.”

But Brown said she is proud of her work as a lobbyist, including advocating for laws requiring Navy and Coast Guard ships to be built in the U.S. during her tenure as vice president of legislative programs for the Shipbuilders Council of America.

“I was proud to go to work every day to save and create tens of thousands of jobs across the United States and our shipyards and that includes thousands of jobs right here in the state of Florida,” she said.

In terms of campaign funds, Brown has put in $32,000 of her own money, garnered $27,419 in donations and has $27,500 on hand.

Sabatini has raised $67,000 and has about $19,800 left.