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Why I am voting for J.R. Gaillot [1]
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Date: 2022-07-25
If you’re a Democrat living in Florida like me, you’ve experienced your fair share of disappointment with our Republican government. We have a legislature which is pumping out bills like “Don’t Say Gay” and we have Ron Desantis (need I say more than his name?).
And it’s likely that in the next midterm, the governorship, state house, and state senate will all go to the Republicans, given that the democrats haven’t controlled any of these three entities since 1998. But this doesn’t mean that hope is lost for the Democrats in Florida when it comes to statewide races in the midterms, and enacting real, progressive policies. One particular race gives me hope: agriculture commissioner. While races like the governorship typically go towards Republicans, agriculture commissioner has actually been a competitive field for the democrats. In the 2018 election, Nikki Fried won the seat (the only Democrat to win a state-wide race in Florida ). My preferred candidate in today’s agriculture commissioner race is J.R. Gaillot. He has promised to use the powers of his state office to achieve many of the goals that local governments can’t, and support policies which will help people all across Florida.
While democrats have been able to have some successes at the local level in Florida, they’ve been routinely cornered by aggressive state legislation. For example, local municipalities are no longer allowed to ban cancer-causing styrofoam packaging because of a state law, or institute many forms of rent control. There are so many changes we need to have happen on the state level, and the agriculture commissioner race gives us a chance to do it.
J.R. Gaillot has promised to make rent stabilization a priority of his campaign. Rent in Florida has risen as much as 32% since 2020, and Florida cities routinely dominate the lists of the highest rent hikes in the country. A study done by Florida Atlantic University found that of the top 10 areas in the country with the highest rent increases last year, 8 of them were in Florida . These astronomical rent hikes have pushed entire communities out of the market and drowned families in debt. J.R. has promised to support a rent hike cap initiative, which would prevent landlords from raising the rent in certain areas beyond a certain percentage for a year. This would be a massive step in helping address Florida’s housing crisis.
He is also committed to addressing environmental issues by phasing out styrofoams and plastics, protecting endangered habitats from pollution, and investing in more environmentally-friendly industries.
J.R. has also pledged to help ease the strain of inflation, a major concern for families all across Florida. Inflation is costing the average family in the US an extra $341 a month . He has committed to taking legal action against companies which are illegally price gouging (raising prices far more than they should to take advantage of this moment), which could decrease the cost of everything from meat, to oil, to baby food.
A cornerstone of his campaign is going after bad business practices, tackling issues ranging from the use of prison labor, to predatory merchant fees, to predatory towing. His policies put people first.
He is also incredibly transparent about his beliefs and policies. One thing that has always annoyed me about political candidates is that they often keep their answers to policy questions and information on their website incredibly vague and don’t give specifics. J.R.’s campaign is very different in that respect. His website features the policies that he supports, plans for implementations, and links to the parts of the Florida Constitution and statutes which give him those powers. When I sent his campaign questions, they answered them in full detail with no vague nonsense responses. He has clear plans of action to tackle each issue, and they are well-constructed and thought-out, which is more than can be said for his opponents in the race.
While Florida politics can be frustrating, I genuinely think we have a reason for hope here. Finally, we have someone running who shares all my progressive ideals. Someone who I don’t have to compromise my morals or beliefs by voting for. Someone who is in a real position to seize the very unique opportunity Democrats have and change life in Florida.
I would argue that this is the most important race in Florida, especially if you want Democrats in positions of power. It is one of the few state-wide races Democrats are likely to win, the position which will have the biggest impact on the most people in Florida, and we have an excellent candidate to field against a Republican challenger. If we genuinely want progressive policies enacted at the state level, we need to pour everything into this race. I believe we can win this, and improve the lives of people across Florida.
I hope you will all join me in supporting his campaign, however you are able. If you’d like to find out more about J.R. Gaillot, here is a link to his campaign website:
https://www.jrgaillot.com/platform
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