HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Florida – Hillsborough County Democrat Jessica Harrington has said she has necessarily run for the 64th District seat of the Florida House of Representatives in the past two years after losing to Jamie Grant in 2018.
His new Republican opponent in the 2020 contest, family circle lawyer Traci Koster, has been slightly in the race for two months.
“I think someone described it as a leap throughout the washing machine cycle,” Koster says. “That’s what it was. ” She says she’s not sure there’s a smart time or the best time to do something like that. But the timing has been a great component. “
Koster was selected through GOP officials in Hillsborough and Pinellas in mid-August to run for the seat a few days after Grant announced his resignation from the Legislature to serve in the management of Governor Ron DeSantis as a generation officer of state leaders.
The district leans over Republicans by about seven percentage points, and a recent St. Peter’s poll has Koster up five points. However, Harrington, a seventh-grade civics teacher, is sure she will return to the seat on November 3.
“We were able to get help from Republicans, Democrats and independents because other people think an instructor is the most productive career you can send to Tallahassee because we can paint with everyone,” he says. “We believe that no matter what the numbers say, it will show election day that other people are us. “
Koster said he thought about running for the district once Grant finished his term and had to act temporarily after he announced his resignation.
The two applicants differ by many points, adding school selection.
“My children go to an autonomous school and I don’t think anyone is better placed than a parent to know what’s more productive for their children, especially in terms of their education,” Koster says. “I think each and every child is different. I think we want to find the young people where they are in terms of education.
Harrington says she started her career as a charter school educator, so she says she understands how important it is for parents to have choice schools and charter schools in the community.
“The challenge is that they are now taking investments in public schools for autonomous schools and are facing schools that are opposite each other and that’s not fair,” he says. “Wouldn’t parents have more choice if all their schools were good?”
Regarding the state’s unemployment system, state Democrats last week called for nearly doubling the amount of weekly benefits for the unemployed, as well as expanding the number of weeks one can remain unemployed.
Harrington supports the idea, while Koster says he doesn’t know if the state can do it.
“I know the Florida budget hurts and you’re going to suffer from this pandemic, but families’ budgets are suffering too,” he says. “And get more money out of your pockets? That’s the problem. Where does the money come from?
Koster supports Governor DeSantis’ call for a law that suppresses disorderly protesters.
“If you protest peacefully, this bill won’t affect you,” he said. “This is for others who are not demonstrating peacefully, and will have to be deterred from such behavior. “
“In fact, we’re going to look at this more deeply, and we hope the Legislature can find a better way,” said Harrington, who called the proposal a “distraction” from the governor’s component on how he treated the pandemic. “Perhaps we can deal with the question of why civil unrest occurs. “
Harrington considers herself a progressive Democrat and is a member of the Florida Progressive Democratic Caucus. This was a challenge the following week after Koster wrote on his Facebook crusade page that Harrington “wants to ban our law enforcement officers from serving as school resource officers. “
Its source to get here directly from the Florida Democratic Progressive Caucus platform, which says, “We oppose the deployment of law enforcement, personal or out of service in our schools or on our polling places. “
Harrington then responded in an “open letter” to Koster on the Daily Kos website, saying, “I completely invest in school resource officers, network police officers and sheriff’s ate. “He then questioned Koster’s integrity in the letter.
Koster later published forums for the Progressive Caucus platform which Harrington said he supported.
Spectrum Bay News nine asked applicants about the exchange on Wednesday.
Harrington said his own political perspectives are not synonymous with those of the Progressive Caucus.
“When a candidate is approved through another organization or organization, it doesn’t mean that the candidate creates or will do everything the organization creates. It just means the nearest candidate,” Harrington said. ” Just like when my opponent accepted cash from the GEO Organization. Does that mean you need to separate young people from the border?Does this mean it’s for human rights violations? (The GEO Group operates personal prisons and has been charged with human rights violations against detainees in its institutions. )
“It’s a wonderful position and she can say it, ” replied Koster. “That’s not what she says. Instead, he resorted to private attacks related to my integrity. So, if you need to pass out and explain what you’re doing and what you don’t agree with, that’s your prerogative, for sure. We have only emphasized your partnership with this organization and what this organization stands for.