In the Florida Democratic Party’s never-ending quest to deny demographic shifts and changes to the electorate, House Victory has chosen to ignore ethically challenged Rep. Erik Fresen, who is now drawn into a seat that Rick Scott barely carried in 2010. The Democratic operatives who run the state party don’t like to challenge conventional wisdom, and thus automatically write off any Miami-Dade County seat with a GOP incumbent and a certain percentage of Hispanics as safely Republican.
When you consider the highest-profile Democrat leading the ticket to last garner less than 48% of the vote in this district was John Kerry in 2012, you realize that this is a seat where eventually the Democrats will be successful if they merely attempt to compete. Like so many districts throughout the state, the Democrats here have found time and time again no one to vote for despite growing numbers and increased activism.
This year the Democratic nominee is Ross Hancock, a self-recruited candidate whose issue positions and willingness to challenge orthodoxy will make him a great advocate as a State Representative. Hancock is well positioned on the issues that matter to South Floridians. He is a strong supporter of environmental protection, protecting the coastline and Everglades restoration. He is a strong opponent of casinos, which is in direct contrast to his opponent Erik Fresen. Unlike Fresen, who has profited off of the proliferation of charter schools, Hancock is a strong supporter of public education and an opponent of school vouchers.
Hancock is a refreshing candidate. A former newspaper editor who is decidedly independent of the Democratic Party powerbrokers in Miami-Dade or Tallahassee, he will serve with distinction in the legislature. For more about his candidacy, visit his campaign website.
Ross Hancock is exactly the type of candidate Democrats need across the state. He has shown leadership on progressive causes locally and is the type of candidate that southeast Florida progressives can easily embrace. In the November election for House District 114, the Political Hurricane strongly endorses Ross Hancock.
House defeat up to the usual tricks. Sounds like a good candidate getting no party assistance.
Ross is a great candidate: he is brilliant, informed and tenacious. He is civic-minded in the old fashioned way: he wants to contribute; not to exploit the position of Representative to enhance his own wealth or power. Glad he is running.
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