Caine, Zhao, Castillo, Curtis — and a ‘none of the above’ — in congressional primaries

Democrats and Republicans have some choices of national consequence to make in the upcoming primary.

Five congressional seats covering nearly all of Central Florida have primaries, four of them Republican contests and one Democratic.

The winners of the Aug. 18 primary election will move on to the Nov. 3 general election.

The Sentinel invited all of the candidates to attend an interview via video conference. Most accepted. Some didn’t. Based on those interviews, along with a review of the candidates’ positions on issues and their qualifications, here are our endorsements in those races.

District 8

Incumbent Republican Bill Posey might have skipped our interview because he feels comfortable in the congressional seat he’s held since 2008.

He ought to be feeling some discomfort in this Republican primary. Posey faces a challenge from Scott Caine, a retired Air Force fighter pilot who’s offering voters in this district an appealing alternative.

Caine checks a lot of boxes, not least of which is 30 years of military experience that included command-level assignments that prepare him for making informed and intelligent defense and foreign-policy decisions.

He has deep roots in the district, which covers Brevard, Indian River and a portion of east Orange County. He grew up in Vero Beach and kept a home in the district while serving in various places around the world.

Politically, Caine has solid conservative bona fides, a must in a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by some 70,000 voter registrations. He’s clear-eyed about the economic threats from China and the real threat from North Korea, and he seems determined to do something about the increasingly crushing burden of our national debt.

But Caine takes a refreshingly broad view, for example, on individual rights. While many GOP candidates thump their chests solely about the Second Amendment, Caine speaks to defending the broad array of rights the founders thought were vital to a free republic, like the First Amendment.

Caine provides some fresh blood in a district that could use a good leeching.

Posey’s been in office 12 years — long enough. While he brings a lot of institutional knowledge to the table, he functions largely as a reliable vote for both President Trump’s policies and for keeping the president unaccountable for his actions. Otherwise, he’s something of a non-entity.

Republican voters in Florida’s 8th District need to seize the opportunity to help Congress get a fresh start with Caine as their representative.

District 7

Yukong Zhao almost didn’t get on the GOP primary ballot for this district, which covers chunks of Orange and Seminole counties. Because of coronavirus shutdowns he was left off, but he filed a lawsuit and was restored to the ballot.

Good thing. Zhao’s life story is a compelling one. He grew up in Communist China and immigrated to the United States in 1992, where he became an executive with Siemens in Orlando.

Who better to confront Chinese economic threats than someone who grew up there? Zhao is plenty conservative, speaking often about the threats of socialism in the United States. His platform should make the right happy, and it largely sticks to substance.

There’s nothing nuanced about one of his opponents, Richard Goble. He’s all in for President Trump, even using the catchphrase “Make District 7 Great Again!” (Oh, brother.) In his interview, Goble contended that Stephanie Murphy, the Democratic incumbent in the district, voted to impeach Trump because big banks gave her campaign contributions. Asked to explain why big banks wanted Trump impeached, Goble was flummoxed and admitted he was speculating.

The third candidate, Orlando radiologist Leo Valentin, didn’t attend an interview but his platform thus far is paper-thin on substance. But he wants to drain the swamp, a phrase that’s become trite and lazy.

Yukong Zhao has a life story that should appeal to real conservatives. He’s the best candidate in this race.

District 6

Two Democrats are in this race to challenge incumbent Republican Michael Waltz, whose district includes all of Volusia and Flagler counties and portions of Lake and St. Johns.

Richard Thripp, fresh off getting a doctoral degree, wants to dive straight into national politics. We appreciate his desire and some of his ideas, but Thripp needs to get some experience under his belt outside of academia.

Clint Curtis has run for office several times before, unsuccessfully. There’s something to be said for perseverance, and for formulating ideas that not only involve new programs but proposals on how to pay for them.

We’re not very excited about either of these candidates, but Curtis is the Democrats’ best choice in this race.

District 9

All of the candidates in this Republican primary are cut from the same basic ideological cloth, tossing hunks of ideological red meat to voters in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by some 75,000 voter registrations.

Many of their ideas were completely out of touch with what troubles people in this district, which includes Osceola County and portions of Orange and Polk. They suffer from an economy that pays poor wages and offers a safety net with huge holes.

Jose Castillo probably is the best vote, though we struggled to come up with a very good reason why. Possibly it’s because the two opponents who also were interviewed — Sergio Ortiz and Christopher Wright — had ideas we couldn’t countenance. Another candidate, Bill Olson, didn’t attend the interview but allowed on his website in May — about the time unemployment was pushing 15% — that “Something wonderful might be happening to the American economy.”

For lack of a better choice, we recommend Republicans vote for Jose Castillo.

District 10

Good luck with this one, Republicans. The two candidates, Vennia Francois and Willie Montague, are running in a heavily Democratic district in west Orange County. The winner will face incumbent Democrat Val Demings.

Francois didn’t respond to our invitation for an interview, and her website is a collection of ideological statements rather than policy outlines. We don’t really know what she stands for. She’s a lawyer who’s worked for several politicians over the years and ran for Congress two years ago, placing third in the GOP primary.

Montague at least showed up, but nearly every policy he wanted to talk about was hyper-local, like helping the homeless and building community centers. We’re all for that, but he should be running for city council or county commission, not Congress.

We’re not making an endorsement in this race.

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. To watch the candidate interviews, go to OrlandoSentinel.com/interviews.