Bracy III is best in Senate Dist. 11
Incumbent Dem cares about justice reform, expanding Medicaid.
The most remarkable thing about Joshua Adams’ campaign website is what’s missing.
It has various statements about taxes, regulations and school choice, but not a word about the COVID-19 pandemic that’s claimed more than 14,000 Floridians’ lives. Nothing about repairing the broken unemployment system that caused so much unnecessary financial and mental anguish for hundreds of thousands of Floridians after the pandemic struck and businesses were shuttered.
That’s cold.
And that’s part of the reason why voters in Senate District 11 are far better off giving incumbent Democrat Randolph Bracy III another term representing a district that includes Winter Garden, Ocoee, Apopka and west Orlando.
To be fair, Bracy’s campaign website also doesn’t speak directly to the problems with unemployment in Florida. But his record does.
In early April, as the pandemic’s seismic impact was being felt, Bracy called for a special session of the Legislature to boost the state’s miserly weekly benefit as well as the duration of benefits. Legislative leaders declined, naturally.
Bracy reiterated his support for fixing the state’s unemployment system in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel Editorial board, an interview his Republican opponent initially said he would attend before declining at the last minute. Adams, a lawyer, said in an email that he was declining because he didn’t like the endorsements the Sentinel had published.
Too bad for voters. An interview would have been a opportunity for Adams to clarify his thoughts on the state’s response to the pandemic and whether he believes Florida should treat its unemployed residents better than it has, something even more important here than in many parts of the state since tourism is likely to be one of the slowest economic sectors to recover. Orange County’s unemployment rate is still in double digits.
We also would like to have asked him about Gov. Ron DeSantis’ planned crackdown on protesters, a plan so broad in scope that it could impose criminal penalties on people who are merely trying to exercise their First Amendment right to assemble.
We understand the plan is most likely a stunt timed to benefit President Trump. So does Bracy.
Adams? Who knows? We do know from his website that he’s worried about the First Amendment to the extent that he thinks conservatives are being mistreated in academia and the media. Sigh.
A candidate who wants to represent a state Senate district with so many Black voters ought to spend more time speaking out about institutional racism in light of police killings of unarmed Black citizens. Instead, Adams frets on his website about Bracy’s 2019 proposal to protect people from discrimination because of hairstyles traditionally associated with race.
We also know from our interview, and from his record, that Bracy cares about reforming the criminal justice system (something more conservative politicians are catching on to), illustrated in part by his efforts to pass a bill that would have prevented police from arresting and handcuffing little kids except in rare circumstances. He also wants to expand Medicaid and hold private schools that accept vouchers to higher standards.
While Bracy is clearly the better candidate in this race, particularly considering the needs of his Senate district, we are not on board with parts of his voting record. He went along with Sen. Bill Galvano’s plan to build new toll roads through rural West Florida. He needs to do a better job resisting efforts to curtail the power of local governments, and to stop going along with unneeded exemptions to the state’s Sunshine Law, though we applaud him for having the courage to be the lone Senate vote against automatically sealing arrest records.
We also hope Bracy will change his thinking on allowing counties to use local tourism taxes to pay for services required because of tourism.
On the whole, though, we view Bracy as an able representative of a large district that needs someone who understands its needs and its people. District 11 voters are better represented by Bracy than by a challenger who seems so out of touch with their concerns.
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. Watch our interviews with candidates at OrlandoSentinel.com/ interviews. Send emails to insight@orlandosentinel.com.