Experienced Frankel deserves renomination

Experience matters. Accomplishments matter. Or so they should in the election of people to our nation’s highest offices, which are responsible for the health and prosperity of 330 million Americans. Indeed, they have mattered, most of the time.

All five congressional districts in Broward and Palm Beach counties are represented by experienced incumbents who have served capably and voted as their constituencies would expect. In this year’s election, however, all are challenged by people aiming to start at the top, never having held city, county or state offices.

In District 21, Democrat Lois Frankel, 72, apprenticed her way to Congress with 12 years over two terms in the Florida House of Representatives, where she became the first woman to serve as minority leader, and eight years as mayor of

West Palm Beach before earning election to the U.S. House in 2012.

She holds a hard-to-get seat on the House Appropriations Committee and on its Subcommittee for Energy and Water Development, where she has been a tireless advocate for restoring the Everglades and improving Florida’s seaports. It would be impossible to overstate her importance to South Florida in that regard, or to the vital national causes of dealing with climate change, and protecting and improving the Affordable Care Act and Medicare and Social Security.

We strongly recommend her re-nomination by the Democratic voters of District 21.

Frankel’s primary election opponent, Guido Weiss, 30, is one of the better-prepared challengers, with a bachelor’s degree in international studies from American University and a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He holds a Navy Reserve commission as an intelligence officer. He has relevant experience as a congressional fellow in the office of Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif, and later, from 2017 to 2019, as an aide and office manager to Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who ran for president in the Democratic primaries.

Weiss also applied to work for Frankel, who hired someone else. In running for

job, Weiss says he wants to fix what he calls a broken political and policy process.

His chief objection — one that we share, she shares and everyone should share — is the “outsized” role of money in politics, he said in his questionnaire. But his idealism conflicts with reality. To slay that dragon in Congress requires getting elected first. To win with a shoestring, primarily selffunded campaign, as Weiss says he intends to do, doesn’t happen these days.

Should Weiss manage a monumental upset in the primary, his likely Republican opponent would be the conspiracy theorist and anti-Muslim bigot, Laura Loomer, who had raised $561,232 with $126,709 cash in the bank as of her March 30 report. Frankel has the finances, the reputation and the influence to defend her seat from someone like that. With only $6,227 raised and $2,406 in the bank at his last report, Weiss would be vulnerable.

Frankel and Weiss debated with spirit but also respect in their joint interview with our editorial board.

“Maybe if you weren’t running against me, I would think about voting for you,” she told him, adding that most of her $1.2 million in campaign contributions have come from “people living in this community.” (According to Open Secrets.org, 64.5 percent of her receipts come from individuals and 34.4 percent from PACs.)

Weiss made a particular issue of

Frankel missing votes — when she had the flu, she said — and supporting an 11th aircraft carrier the Navy said it didn’t need. Frankel didn’t remember that vote, saying she probably followed the lead of a subcommittee chair.

But she cites a “hundred percent report card” from the League of Conservation Voters, and the support of labor and of “every progressive organization” including Planned Parenthood. She also voted for HR 1, the House’s comprehensive campaign reform bill that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to let the Senate consider. The Senate, she says, “is a catastrophe right now.”

Frankel has posted her entire voting record on her House website. See it here: frankel.house.gov/voterecord/

District 21 serves most of eastern Palm Beach County and extends west to Wellington. Frankel has been a good representative for her district, her state and our nation.

Weiss has enthusiasm, idealism and some experience to offer, so we encourage him to find a lower rung on the ladder and begin to work his way up.

There isn’t space here to do full justice to either candidate’s platform, but the Sun Sentinel has put their joint interview and questionnaires on line. You may access them at: sunsentinel.com/endorsements.

Frankel