My Personal Voter’s Guide to the August 2016 Primary
This document only applies to Leon County, Florida for the August 2016 Democratic Primary. Feel free to comment below with counter-arguments or endorsements of your own.
Guiding Philosophy
These are mostly local races, so they’re considered “low-information” elections. As such, I typically have no idea who any of the candidates are. When I have very little information, I use a heuristic (a mental shortcut) of researching endorsements. Several of my choices are based entirely on the fact that one candidate received the endorsement of the current office-holder. If that’s not good enough for you, then do your own research.
Just My Picks with No Explanation
US Senator: Patrick Murphy
US Representative, District 5: Al Lawson
State Attorney, 2nd Judicial Court: Sean Desmond
State Representative, District 8: Ramon Alexander
Circuit Court Clerk: Barry Brooks
Property Appraiser: Doug Will
Superintendent of Schools: Jackie Pons
County Judge, Seat 2: Layne Smith
Supervisor of Elections: Mark Earley
School Board, District 4: Dee Dee Rasmussen
Amendment 4: YES
US Senator
Patrick Murphy. He’s going to win this race easily, but in case you needed an explanation…Alan Grayson is literally insane.
Representative in Congress, District 5
Al Lawson. The incumbent, Corrine Brown, is currently indicted due to a huge corruption scandal and should be removed from office. She has floated by for years on pork projects and identity politics, and she recently compared her troubles to those of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lawson is a well-known and highly popular former member of the state legislature who is fond of working across the aisle with Republicans. I like him well enough to support him in this race, but I’d be ecstatic if he gets primaried in two years by Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (who really should have run for this seat and would make us all proud).
State Attorney, 2nd Judicial Court
Sean Desmond. His opponent, Jack Campbell, has been endorsed by the outgoing State Attorney. This is one race where that makes me LESS likely to support Campbell. Willie Meggs, outgoing State Attorney, famously botched the Jameis Winston incident and made Tallahassee a laughingstock. Meggs is the personification of the Good Ole Boy politics of old, and I’m happy to kick his successor to the curb.
A note here: I’m voting for Sean Desmond in this primary, but in November I plan to vote for the Republican, Pete Williams. I KNOW RIGHT?!? Pete and I share a mutual friend, and I’ve read up on his views. He’s conservative, but he understands the legal system better than either Democrat in the race and has a great plan to revitalize and repair the office. He’s running unopposed on the GOP side this month, but he’ll be on the November ballot.
State Representative, District 8
Ramon Alexander. There are a couple of solid picks in this race, but Alexander has the endorsement of virtually every interest group or political committee imaginable, and he’s raised about 10 times the money of his rivals. He’s going to win, and I trust the people who know state politics better than I do. He seems like a viable candidate.
Circuit Court Clerk
Barry Brooks. Do you know anything about the Circuit Court Clerk race? I sure don’t. All I know is Brooks has been endorsed by the outgoing Clerk and has like 20 years experience in the office, and I don’t have any outstanding issues with the way the office is currently run. That’s good enough for me.
Property Appraiser
Doug Will. He’s endorsed by the outgoing Property Appraiser. Clay Ketcham also seems to be a solid choice, so I won’t be upset if he prevails either.
Superintendent of Schools
Jackie Pons. He’s also currently under federal investigation, but I’ve talked to a number of people who say he’s better than his opponent (who happens to be the whistleblower in Pons’s case, and seems to harbor a lot of resentment toward him). In November, I’m very likely to vote for someone else no matter the result.
County Judge, Seat 2
Layne Smith. He appears to have earned the respect of most (all?) people who know his work. His opponent is also a fairly underqualified member of a political family in Tallahassee, so I’m not convinced that I can vote for her in good conscience. I don’t even know if Smith is a Republican or Democrat, but people seem to love him.
Supervisor of Elections
Mark Earley. Leon County has one of the best Supervisor of Elections in the country in Ion Sancho, and Sancho has endorsed Earley. I’d probably blindly vote for anyone Ion Sancho endorsed to be honest, so this was a no-brainer for me. Both of his opponents are also very good candidates, so I think we can’t go wrong here.
School Board, District 4
Dee Dee Rasmussen. She’s the current School Board chair, and she’s fairly popular. I don’t see much of a contest here.
Amendment 4
YES. This amendment provides a property tax exemption for solar power and renewable energy sources. I’m a big fan of renewable energy, and the list of supporters for this amendment is a mile long. It’s endorsed by everyone from the AFL-CIO to the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Just vote for it already.
What if I’m a Republican?
If you’re a Republican, I have a few recommendations as well. Don’t worry, these aren’t some nefarious plot. It’s just a list of who I might support if I were a reasonable conservative.
US Senator: Marco Rubio. This is a no-brainer. The guy should be running against Hillary, for crying out loud.
US Representative, District 2: Ken Sukhia. The other two candidates are engaged in a Crazy-Off, airing commercials calling each other liberals. Sukhia has a good pedigree and would represent that district well.
What about other Democratic Races?
I only listed races on my ballot, but I do have other recommendations.
State Representative, District 9: Loranne Ausley. She used to hold that seat until she got term-limited out, so she’s back again. My friend used to work with her. She’s a keeper.
Precinct 2305 Committeeman: Gilbert Daspit, Jr. I know him personally, and he’ll do a good job.
How did you even research this election?
Two websites were essential to this post.
First: You may be surprised to learn that the local newspaper is a good source of information for local election news. The Tallahassee Democrat does a pretty spectacular job of reporting on all candidates in all races, especially given the limited size of its readership. They’re worth a subscription, even if only for a few months during election season.
Second: The League of Women Voters website is a goldmine. I found survey responses, candidate profiles, links to candidate websites, campaign finance information, and even a short video presentation from some of the candidates themselves. Granted, I’ve tried to save you the time and energy of poring through the site, but if you have any additional questions about the candidates, this is the place to go.