Local candidates shared their views, priorities and plans for office during a midterm forum hosted by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service Sunday.
In a Q&A session led by the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan civic engagement group, candidates from five races answered questions about education, local policy and the environment. The questions were followed by a panel debating Amendment 3, which proposes homestead tax exemptions be lowered and has been highly contested in Florida.
Alachua County Commission District 4
First, the audience heard from Alachua County Commission Chair Ken Cornell and newcomer Dewayne Baines. Both are Alachua County natives and running for the District 4 seat of the Alachua County Commission, encompassing southeast Alachua County.
The candidates were asked to detail the biggest issues the county faces and describe their top priorities for their time in office.
Incumbent Cornell, who has nearly 12 years of experience as a commissioner, pointed toward the commission’s recent achievements.
He spoke about the county’s $250 million 10-year Transportation Capital Improvement Program, which helps address weaknesses in local transportation infrastructure by improving roads, sidewalks and traffic signals. Cornell also hinted at future infrastructure investments, which will be introduced next year.
Cornell reaffirmed his positions in his closing statement.
“I stand for local control,” Cornell said. “I stand for voting rights. I stand for transparency.”
Opponent Baines, a 48-year-old social worker, has served on the county commission-appointed Alachua County Land Conservation Board for three years. In his responses, he emphasized building community and prioritizing the interest of people over corporations.
“I'm not just here for show,” Baines said, “but I'm here to help the community in every way I can.”
Alachua County School Board District 1
Janine Plavac and Hunter Miller took the stage to discuss their campaigns for the District 1 seat on the Alachua County School Board, which encompasses the west side of the county.
After no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the two candidates with the most votes, Plavac and Miller, advanced to a runoff election that will be added to the ballot in November.
The candidates responded to questions concerning the district’s literacy crisis; the impacts of the state voucher program, which allows students to attend a private school by redirecting tax dollars allocated for public schools to private school scholarships; and financial issues constraining schools in the county.
Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April 2025, Plavac brings more than two decades of education and leadership experience, having started her career teaching in the district in 2004. She now serves as the director of the Health Sciences Institute at St. Francis Catholic High School, a Gainesville private school.
At Sunday’s event, Plavac highlighted the need for fiscal accountability. She referenced Michael Reneke’s promotion from the district’s budget director to the school board’s chief financial officer, whose qualifications she flagged as a concern. Both Plavac and Miller described this instance as part of a larger trend of promotions prioritizing familiarity with leadership over experience or skill level.
Plavac also attributed literacy achievement gaps to the lack of support administration offers to teachers. She said she will advocate for implementing enhanced literacy strategies, like the UF Literacy Institute, starting in pre-K.
Plavac suggested that funds need to be prioritized to better align with teachers’ recommendations.
“The funding that we're putting out right now from instructional programs that teachers say are not impacting these kids needs to be taken back,” Plavac said, “But again, it's a board decision and if you are not the majority, you do not have any say.”
Miller, a Howard Bishop Middle School teacher, discussed his goal to improve literacy rates. He also cited the UF Literacy Institute as well as the Science of Reading literacy program as strong solutions to continue exploring in classrooms.
In addition, Miller said it’s important to create a positive work environment for teachers and ensure leadership is communicative and transparent.
“I do want to make sure with our accountability, we as a school board, when I'm on it, we need to be as open with communication as we can be,” Miller said.
Both candidates agreed that enhancing Career and Technical Education programs like culinary arts, graphic design and automotive engineering would increase student retention and make the district more competitive.
Florida House of Representatives Districts 10 and 22
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson from District 10, which encompasses north Gainesville and Alachua County, and Amy Trask of District 22, which is home to west Gainesville and Alachua County, answered questions on water conservation and healthcare accessibility.
The candidates’ Republican opponents, Marshall Rawson and Chad Johnson, didn’t attend the forum due to scheduling conflicts and illness, according to Donna Waller, the president of the League of Women Voters of Alachua County.
Malwitz-Jipson voiced support for initiatives to maintain the Santa Fe River and remove bottling operations, in which companies draw water from local springs.
“We do not have enough water,” Malwitz-Jipson said. “The water management districts have failed us. They have produced downstream impact harm to us.”
She also said she supports medicare for all.
Trask shared Malwitz-Jipson’s concerns about water conservation and healthcare accessibility, calling the latter a pillar of her platform.
In her opening statement, Trask drew attention to her past as a domestic violence survivor and her success in helping pass the HAVEN (Helping Abuse Victims Escape Now) Act to expand safety, prevention and emergency response for domestic abuse victims.
“I'm running on the basic principle that survival should be the floor that we build from and not the ceiling that we aspire to reach,” Trask said, “and I'm going to fight until that's a reality.”
Florida Senate District 6
Florida Senate candidates were next to take the stage. Democratic candidate Jason Bellamy-Fults and American Solidarity Party member Dr. Joseph Thornton shared their opinions on the environment and diversity ahead of the election for District 6, which includes north Gainesville.
Incumbent Jennifer Bradley, the Republican candidate, wasn’t in attendance. Bellamy-Fults indicated in his closing statement that the three candidates’ absence reflects the attitude of the Republican party in Florida. He attributes the discrepancy to gerrymandering, saying it makes one party feel like it doesn’t need to show up to events like the forum.
The candidates were asked to share their goals for office, their views on local environmental policy and how they intend to address the needs of their diverse district.
Bellamy-Fults expressed concern with the treatment of Florida’s waterways and emphasized the importance of affordability.
“We have to address making the state somewhere that people can afford to live,” Bellamy-Fults said.
He also said he wants to empower citizens to gain control and decide what happens in their local communities by electing candidates who prioritize the needs of people over companies.
Thorton said one of his first priorities in office is to abolish the death penalty, which he called “an assault on human dignity.” Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has seen a record number of executions with 19 carried out in 2025 and 15 so far this year.
He also emphasized his intentions to reform the immigration process and find ways to live alongside artificial intelligence.
Being a psychiatrist with experience providing care to death row inmates, Thornton regards the protection of justice and human dignity as a critical part of his platform.
“We're unable to solve problems because our focus is wrong,” Thornton said. “Our focus is on power and who's in control and who makes profit and hasn't focused on human dignity.”
Amendment 3 panel
The forum closed with a debate between former Gainesville Mayor Ed Braddy and Mayor Harvey Ward over the proposed Amendment 3, which is set to appear on the November ballot.
Amendment 3 proposes a decrease in the amount of property taxes homeowners pay over the coming years, limiting how much revenue local governments receive.
Braddy spoke in favor of the amendment. He said the proposed tax relief will protect and encourage people to become homeowners. The money would not leave the county, he said, and it would instead stay with the people instead of going to the city.
“If you have a chance to push the needle in a different direction finally and reaffirm the principle that here in the state of Florida that you can work hard, aspire, own a house and not get taxed out of it, that you can maintain and keep your piece of the American dream, then I think that's something worth voting for,” Braddy said.
Meanwhile, Ward said the amendment would threaten funding for public resources like libraries, parks and emergency medical services. He warned voters that the effects of the amendment, if passed, can’t be easily reversed.
“Affordability matters and there are ways we ought to approach affordability,” Ward said. “But we should not do it in such a way that it pulls out the biggest block of the Jenga tower for every municipal authority in Florida.”
Contact Julia Miller at jmiller@alligator.org. Follow her on X @juliamill30.
Julia Miller is a freshman journalism student at UF working as a general asignment reporter on the metro desk. This is her first semester with The Alligator and in her free time, she enjoys watching movies, reading, and spending time with her friends.
