First Wave of Endorsements Includes House and Senate Candidates
Tallahassee, FL – Americans for Prosperity Action Florida (AFP Action FL) announced the organization’s first round of endorsements for candidates seeking election to the Florida legislature. The list includes eight House candidates and five Senate candidates.
The organization will leverage a range of tactics, including the country’s largest grassroots outreach and mobilization capability, a full-time dedicated staff, and trained volunteers to educate and mobilize voters to support endorsed candidates.
“AFP Action Florida and our grassroots activists are ready and engaged to support candidates who champion policies that promote growth and opportunity in Florida and improve people’s lives,” said AFP Action Senior Advisor Skylar Zander. “We will be active across the state, knocking on doors and making calls during the coming months, right up to Election Day.”
AFP Action Florida Endorses the Following Candidates:
Rep. Paul Renner (HD-19)
During his time in the Florida House of Representatives, Rep. Paul Renner has been a leader in ending corporate welfare, improving education, and protecting Florida taxpayers. He was the lead sponsor of legislation to end Enterprise Florida and to add more oversight of community redevelopment agencies. Rep. Renner has been an advocate for students through his support for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. On health care, Renner has advocated for greater access and lower prices as a lead advocate for “Right to Shop” legislation and certificate of need reform.
Rep. Stan McClain (HD-27)
Rep. Stan McClain is a champion for better education. As a member of the Education Committee, Rep. McClain supported policies that improve our education system by giving parents greater opportunities to choose an education that matches their children’s unique needs, including charter schools and virtual programs. Rep. McClain was a co-sponsor of HB 7051, related to Postsecondary Education changes. He also advocated for reducing counterproductive regulations through reforms to occupational licensing, telehealth, and scope of practice laws. Rep. McClain supported multiple tax reduction bills and voted to require a supermajority for tax
increases.
Rep. Mike Giallombardo (HD-79)
Rep. Mike Giallombardo has been a champion of legislation and policies that remove barriers to individual success and wellbeing. He voted for education bills to expand school choice and charter schools. He voted to expand health care access by expanding telehealth and reforming scope of practice to allow medical professionals to work to their training. Further, he is the sponsor of legislation to reduce burdensome and unnecessary regulations on certain home-based businesses.
Rep. Bob Rommel (HD-81)
Rep. Bob Rommel has been a consistent supporter of efforts to improve health care options for Floridians. Over multiple legislative sessions he supported efforts to expand the scope of practice for physician assistants to give health care consumers more options at lower costs. He also voted to expand direct primary care, reform certificate of need requirements that artificially limit competition and choice and drive up costs, and expand telehealth programs. Rep. Rommel has been a leader on occupational licensing reform to remove unnecessary barriers to work. As a leader on fiscal policy, Rep. Rommel sponsored multiple bills that seek to make it more difficult to raise taxes.
Rep. Lauren Melo (HD-82)
During her time in the State House, Rep. Lauren Melo has worked to break down regulatory and legal barriers to give people greater opportunities to succeed. She was the prime sponsor of legislation that would increase the ability of businesses to work with independent contractors and a supporter of legislation that would dramatically expand the ability to create home-based businesses.
Rep. Tom Fabricio (HD-110)
As a freshman member of the legislature, Rep. Tom Fabricio worked to create and expand health care opportunities for Florida residents, including telehealth services that proved critical to people during the COVID crisis. An advocate for children and parents, Rep. Fabricio voted in support of expanding school choice and charter school programs. Additionally, he supports increasing educational opportunities to allow access for all children.
Rep. Alex Rizo (HD-112)
Rep. Alex Rizo’s professional experience as a charter school principal and education consultant provides the state legislature with real-life experience to help reform and improve our state’s education system. During his short time in the legislature, Rep. Rizo has championed health care reforms in telehealth to expand access and scope of practice to allow health care professionals to work to their full training. He has also supported legislation that would make it harder to implement a top-down, government-run “single-payer” health care system.
Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin (HD-118)
Rep. Fernandez-Barquin supports expanding the power of parents to choose an education approach that is best for their children’s specific needs through education savings accounts and charter school programs. He is an advocate of expanding consumer choice in the health care market to increase access and lower costs. He was the prime sponsor of a bill to allow pharmacists a greater ability to administer vaccines, and bills to expand the scope of practice for licensed optometrists.
Sen. Keith Perry (SD-09)
Few lawmakers have been as impactful in the Florida criminal justice reform space as Sen. Keith Perry. From his position on the Criminal Justice Committee, Sen. Perry has been a consistent voice for juvenile justice reforms and has been a co-sponsor and advocated for nearly every major criminal justice reform bill in the state. Sen. Perry has sponsored multiple bills to reduce the impact of onerous occupational licensing laws that require a government “permission slip” to work and limit opportunities for many people seeking a job or wishing to start a business.
Sen. Debbie Mayfield (SD-19)
As the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Debbie Mayfield advanced educational freedom bills through the Florida Senate. She has been a positive voice for expanding access to affordable care through telehealth reforms, allowing health care professionals to work to their training, removing barriers to new services and care, and expanding direct primary care.
Sen. Ray Rodrigues (SD-33)
Sen. Ray Rodrigues has been a champion of efforts to expand telehealth and scope-of-practice reform that allows health care professionals to work to their training. He is an opponent of corporate welfare programs and opposed the creation of a new corporate welfare fund. Sen. Rodriguez courageously voted against funding “Visit Florida,” a corporate welfare program disguised as a tourism program.
Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr. (SD-39)
Sen. Manny Diaz has been a champion for Florida taxpayers. Not only has he voted to reduce taxes, but he also voted for legislation requiring a supermajority of lawmakers to increase state taxes. On health care, Sen. Diaz, who serves as chairman of the Health Policy Committee, sponsored multiple bills to expand options and lower consumer costs ranging from scope of practice reform to telehealth. He was also the lead sponsor of legislation to require a supermajority to pass single-payer healthcare.
Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez (SD-40)
Sen. Ana Rodriguez has been a valuable voice in efforts to remove unnecessary and burdensome regulations. She was a lead sponsor of a Red Tape Reduction bill and was an advocate for business protections during COVID-19. Sen. Rodriguez understands the need for a balanced approach to energy and was the lead sponsor of two comprehensive energy reform bills that are potential models for requiring state legislative approval for future greenhouse gas regulations.
Background:
During the 2020 election cycle, AFP Action supported candidates nationwide with more than 8.5 million telephone calls, 1.5 million door knocks, and more than 49 million pieces of mail. AFP Action has unmatched direct voter outreach capability supported by a world-class data operation.
AFP Action is a 527 political action committee, registered with the Florida division of elections, focused on electing candidates who will drive policy change and facilitate the building of broad policy coalitions that remove barriers to opportunity and help people improve their lives. The organization has a strong, permanent grassroots presence, including highly motivated activists who volunteer during the election season by making telephone calls and knocking on doors in support of policy champions.
Paid political advertisement paid for Americans for Prosperity Action, Inc. Florida,
P.O. Box 293, Tallahassee, FL 32302, independently of any candidate.
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FLORIDA DISTRICTS: https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/candidates/CanList.asp
