Democrat wants to see change in Florida House. GOP opponent says there is no need for that

Florida House District 71 encompasses much of west Bradenton and Manatee County and has historically been a Republican stronghold. Current State Rep. Jim Boyd, R, Bradenton, first elected to the seat in 2010, could not run for re-election because of term limits.

Democratic nominee Tracy Pratt believes she can pull off the upset over Republican Will Robinson.

“I’ve always been involved in politics and community issues and I thought it was important to run this year and thought this race is winnable,” Pratt said.

Both candidates hail from Bradenton and they are first-time candidates. Pratt, 47, is a local attorney and small business owner and a proud mother of two, with a history of involvement with nonprofit groups.

Robinson, 42, is a partner with the law firm Blalock Walters, specializing in real estate law and a Gov. Rick Scott appointee on the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission, as well as the former chair on Meals on Wheels Plus.

“I want to keep Florida moving forward, and not go back to those dark Florida days when unemployment was in double digits and the state debt was out of control,” Robinson said. “For me, it’s personal. I was born in Bradenton, just like my father and my grandfather moved here from Kentucky to open a hotel in 1948.”

Robinson said his top priority is workforce development.

“I have toured probably 200 small businesses in Manatee and Sarasota counties and they all say the same thing,” Robinson said. “They can’t find quality workers for their business. The Legislature isn’t doing an effective job emphasizing trade schools and that starts with a partnership with local school districts to show these high school students that college isn’t the only viable option, but can find an amazing career choice through a technical or trade school.”

Robinson said he would support additional funding to promote schools like Manatee Technical College, “Which is an award-winning institution and should be supported,” he said.

Red tide has become a hot topic during the campaign season with more than enough finger pointing going around.

“First of all, the environment has been my No. 1 issue since the day I filed,” Pratt said. “I want my children to have the same beautiful environment that their previous five generations have enjoyed. While we know red tide is natural, this extreme aggravation of it can be looked at the human behavioral culprit. The Legislature, for the last several years, has created this aggravated toxic algae bloom and we know pollution and toxic runoff aggravates it.”

Pratt said the Legislature needs to devote more resources into the science behind it.

“I believe in science,” she said. “We’ve had the Legislature wanting to hide their eyes to climate change, while we’ve seen our waters warming. Agricultural runoff and fertilizers and warming waters are all contributing to giant environmental disasters, which affects our health and quality of life. It’s been a real neglect in exchange of corporate interests.”

Robinson uses the acronym FEP in his strategy in dealing with red tide issues.

“It’s not an excuse that it’s naturally occurring,” Robinson said. “We need to better fund institutions like Mote Marine so they can do the appropriate research to mitigate and forecast red tide. It’s been devastating to the Village of Cortez and the island communities. The next is education because a lot of us can be better educated on what we can do individually to better protect the environment in terms of fertilizing.”

And the letter P in his acronym?

“Punish those who are polluting our waterways,” Robinson said. “Look at what happened in St. Pete when they dumped sewage into our bay. If you fine these folks, that money can go for research.”

Both candidates agree that the Legislature needs to move away from repeated attempts to water down home-rule authority from local governments.

“I support more home rule,” Pratt said. “Particularly on the barrier island communities. The community is the best places to make decisions for people and the Legislature’s job is to make sure we create a baseline for the rights of people, such as growth management. The Legislature should be focused on best practices instead of letting development run rampant. The over arch of my campaign is to put the power back to the people.”

Robinson said local governments are closer to the people than state legislators and know what’s best for their communities.

“The state needs to let them do what they do best and manage their own affairs,” Robinson said.

Pratt’s platform includes expanding healthcare opportunities by supporting Medicaid expansion and enacting stricter gun laws. Robinson said the state can ill afford to get complacent on battling opioids in the state.

“We are making progress,” he said. “There has been some good legislation already but we have room for improvement. The problem with drugs is that when you take care of one issue, quite frankly, there is another epidemic right around the corner. We have to solve the issues of addiction and treatment and continue to put drug dealers where they belong, which is in jail.”

When asked if their opponents were running clean and honest campaigns, Robinson said he has been pleased the campaigns have focused on the issues and have not gone negative. Pratt agreed, but did criticize her opponent for preaching about the environment while taking money from big corporations. Pratt said Robinson also has failed to show up at a single public event where the two candidates could debate their differences.

Robinson has raised more than $272,000 with his best effort coming in the last month, raising more than $25,000. Donors include individuals, law firms and companies such as West Coast Tomato, LLC, Jones Potato Farm, Inc., and Manatee County Medical Society, to name a few.

Pratt has raised substantially less at almost $42,000 with the majority of her donors being individuals. or community organizations like Protect Our Students.

Robinson has spent more than $92,000 on his campaign, and Pratt has spent more than $19,300.

Pratt wants voters to know that this election isn’t about her.

“I don’t see this as my political moment, I see it as the people’s movement,” she said. “It’s the people trying to take back their state.”

Robinson said there is nothing to take back and Florida continues in the right direction.

“We just need to keep moving forward,” he said. “We didn’t get where we are by economic accident.”