Vic DeGrammont the stronger GOP nominee

The great weakness of America’s two-party system is that most of the 435 contests for the U.S. House of Representatives are competitive, if at all, only in the primaries. Owing mostly to how the districts are drawn, only 86 seats — just one in five — are expected to be in play on November 3.

Florida’s District 20, centered on the eastern portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties, is one of the most solidly Democratic constituencies, as it was meant to be. More than half the residents — 53.4 percent — are Black, and 22.5 percent are Hispanic. Of the registered voters, 62 percent are Democrats. Only

12.4 percent are Republicans.

Vic DeGrammont and Greg Musselwhite are the candidates vying in the August 18 primary to take on the challenge of converting one of the nation’s bluest seats in November. Incumbent Alcee Hastings had only a write-in opponent two years ago and won with 99.9 percent of the vote.

Republican voters shouldn’t let the long odds discourage them from voting or from thinking seriously about which of their two candidates is likely to run the stronger race in November.

We believe that advantage goes to Vic DeGrammont, 43, a licensed real estate associate who lives in Lauderhill.

DeGrammont is a first-generation Haitian-American married to a first-generation Cuban American, which supports his claim to “represent the face of the district.”

Even more important is his choice of the top three issues facing the nation: “Unemployment, coronavirus/COVID 19, Black relations and equality.” On the specifics, he sounds somewhat less partisan than many more-experienced Republicans, but he needs to better inform himself on such big issues as managing the deficit and extending health care to more Americans. He is too accommodating of President Trump’s abuses of power, but it would be unusual to find a Republican who isn’t.

However, he is open to addressing the climate change crisis and listening to “top experts using scientific data.” And he is attuned to the importance of the Everglades in storing carbon.

Musselwhite, 54, has worked primarily as a pipe fitter and as a certified welding inspector with experience in nuclear plants. Although it’s not disqualifying, he lives in Fort Pierce, which is outside the district. If elected, he says, he would move his five-wheel RV from place to place in the district to keep in touch with the voters.

On climate change, the most severe long-term danger to civilization, he asserts that “man has very little effect on temperature swings.” He contends “new advances” in nuclear energy would be “far more productive than wind or solar and should receive equal incentives.” But that’s a non-starter politically, given the government’s failure to provide for permanent safe storage of nuclear waste.

His top three issues are “border security and immigration reform, economy to include job creation and fair-trade agreements,” and the national debt. “We have to balance our budget in the future and stop the spending. Our children and grandchildren deserve better,” he says.

He sounds more partisan than DeGrammont. One example: He blames Nancy Pelosi, not Trump, for abandoning a bipartisan consensus to invest in America’s infrastructure.

Neither candidate claims any prior political experience or membership in civic organizations. South Florida has no shortage of qualified Republicans who have local offices on their résumés, but none of them cared or dared to uphold the two-party system in South Florida this year. So DeGrammont and Musselwhite deserve credit for doing that.

Neither has or is likely to have much money to get their messages out. DeGrammont apparently didn’t meet the $5,000 reporting threshold for the Federal Elections Commission’s first quarterly report and says he is self-funding. Musselwhite says he has raised $23,798 so far. You can read the Sun Sentinel candidate questionnaires of DeGrammont and Musselwhite online at sunsentinel.com/endorsements.

DeGrammont