Politics
Florida candidates make affordability the centerpiece of South Florida campaign stops
As Election Day nears, the major-party candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are courting South Florida voters with competing messages on household costs, immigration and the economy. Democrats highlighted rent pressures and immigration enforcement, while Republicans emphasized housing and insurance costs.
With Election Day approaching, Florida’s gubernatorial campaigns are using South Florida stops to make the cost of living a central issue, while also seeking support from communities across the region.
Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Gwen Graham prepared lunches for pickup during a campaign “work day,” a tradition she said was inspired by her late father, former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham. She said the event marked her 64th work day on the campaign trail.
Graham said voters she met were worried about rising expenses. One man told her his rent had quadrupled in recent years, she said. Graham also asserted that about half of Floridians live paycheck to paycheck, and argued that Republicans should be held responsible for the state’s economic challenges after roughly three decades of Republican control of the governor’s office.
At Kasa Champet, a Haitian restaurant in Pembroke Pines, Graham criticized immigration enforcement, saying it was harming immigrant communities and local businesses. She also rejected Republican messaging that characterizes Democrats as socialists, calling it an effort to create fear and division.
Her running mate, Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, is trying to improve the party’s performance statewide. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Jolly in Broward County on Tuesday. Jolly said his strategy was to increase Democratic margins in places the party has won and narrow losses elsewhere, adding that “every vote matters.”
Republican lieutenant governor candidate Bryan Avila began his day at Islas Canarias, a Cuban restaurant in West Miami-Dade. Avila said the campaign had traveled more than 10,000 miles and visited over 55 cities. He later joined Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds at The Floridian in Fort Lauderdale.
Donalds said he wanted to focus on his own agenda, including education and small-business support, and pledged to address housing and insurance costs. He said Florida should be affordable for seniors and working families alike.
The candidates’ South Florida appearances underscore how affordability has become a key point of competition in the governor’s race. Their remarks offered sharply different accounts of the state’s challenges and the policies they say would help residents, but the campaign stops did not provide detailed proposals or cost estimates for the promised changes.