Linda Stewart gets the nod in an intriguing Senate District 13 race
Linda Stewart has been a familiar political name in Central Florida for two decades. At 71, she is about twice as old as her opponent in the Nov. 3 election.
Josh Anderson has never run for public office. He is an intriguing candidate, full of ideas and promise.
The race for the Senate District 13 basically comes down to a fresh Republican face vs. a familiar Democratic one.
We’re endorsing the familiar one.
It’s not simply because Stewart’s positions on most issues are sound. Many of Anderson’s views aren’t that different.
Stewart’s institutional knowledge goes back to when she first elected for Orange County Commission in 2002. She went from there to the Florida House and then the Senate in 2016.
Stewart is intimately familiar with the community’s needs. Just as important, she knows how to get things done in Tallahassee. That’s not easy in a Republicancontrolled Legislature.
“I think what we do moving forward requires someone with experience in the Senate and someone who’s able to talk to colleagues on both sides of the aisle,” she told the Sentinel Editorial Board.
That experience gives her the edge over Anderson.
Most endorsement interviews for state races take the same path. Democrats are all for expanding Medicaid, overhauling Florida’s unemployment system, enacting policies that might help low-wage workers and curtailing development that threatens the environment.
Republicans don’t even try to defend the state’s indefensible unemployment system, which their party built before its collapse in the pandemic. But they are more pro-business and averse to spending.
Stewart followed her party’s line during the interview. Anderson veered off script.
Like most, he wants to revamp unemployment. But he’s also for programs that would increase working-class wages in Central Florida and ease the affordable housing crunch.
“Somebody working a 40-hour job shouldn’t have to be struggling to make sure they’re living in a house that’s safe,” Anderson said.
He even came out for Medicaid expansion. At that point, we had to ask another question.
Are you sure you’re a Republican?
“The powers that be in the Republican party don’t typically talk about this stuff in public, which I do,” Anderson said. “But the truth is the majority of Republicans actually feel very similar to how I feel. The majority of Republicans in my age and demographic feel very similar, that there are social responsibilities we have.”
Anderson was raised in Ohio and joined the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, working on lighting and pyrotechnics. He now works for ITEC Entertainment, a firm that develops themed attractions.
Anderson has a Republican’s affinity for smaller government and less regulation. He prefers working with businesses and other entities, not forcing them to alter policies.
“I’d do more lobbying , a lot of work with businesses and getting them on board to have social responsibility and not legislating morals in Florida,” he said.
While that sounds good, we’re skeptical how well that works in the real world, where profits often trump responsibility. That’s where Stewart knows how to operate.
She a liberal but not an ideologue. Sometimes she’s too pragmatic.
For example, Stewart voted for the 2019 bill that approved building toll roads through rural Florida. Environmentalists hated it, but Stewart said she voted yes in return for getting environmental groups on the three task forces studying the projects.
Stewart said she’ll push to kill the $10 billion plan. But it is statutorily guaranteed to receive about $140 million a year through 2030, and it’s far from certain legislators will ever pull funding.
Stewart has far more legislative hits than misses, however. And to displace proven incumbents, challengers many times need to demonstrate they’ll be a marked improvement.
Anderson shows political potential, and not many legislators could say they worked for a company founded by P.T. Barnum.
But for now, Stewart is the better choice in Central Florida to deal with the legislative circus in Tallahassee.
Election endorsements are the opinion of the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, which consists of Opinion Editor Mike Lafferty, Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, Jay Reddick, David Whitley and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Sentinel Columnist Scott Maxwell participates in interviews and deliberations. Send emails to insight@orlandosentinel.com. Watch interviews with these and other candidates at OrlandoSentinel.com/ interviews.