Polk County Voter Guide
NOTE: Some races in this county are not included in the guide.
This nonpartisan guide helps voters compare candidates in select races. Not every race below will appear on your ballot, and inclusion below does not constitute endorsement.
All candidates were offered the same questionnaire for their office and an equal opportunity to respond. Questions were optional, and responses are published as submitted. “Did not respond” indicates that a candidate did not submit responses by the deadline. (i) indicates an incumbent.
HOW TO FIND RACES ON YOUR BALLOT
Visit VOTE411.org/ballot and enter your address or visit your Supervisor of Elections website to generate a sample ballot.
Click a section below to expand its races, read the questions, answers, and any comments provided by the candidates. For the background information supplied to candidates for each question, see the questionnaires linked below.
US Congressional District 9
Dan Green
Republican
Did Not Respond
Darren Soto (i)
Democrat
Did Not Respond
US Congressional District 16 - NOT INCLUDED
US Congressional District 18
Republican
Scott Franklin (i)
Did Not Respond
Curtis Gibson
Democrat
-
1. Federal Funding for Private and Religious Schools: Do you support or oppose federal tax credits that help families pay for private or religious K-12 education?
Answer: Oppose
"Public tax dollars belong in public schools. Subsidizing private or religious schools drains vital resources from public education and undermines accountability for all students."
2. Nondiscrimination Requirements for Federally Funded Religious Organizations: Do you support or oppose requiring religious organizations, when administering federally funded programs, to comply with the same nondiscrimination requirements toward program beneficiaries as comparable secular organizations?
Answer: Support
"Any organization accepting public taxpayer funds must serve all taxpayers equally. No recipient of federal funding should be permitted to discriminate against program beneficiaries."
3. Religious Activity in Federally Funded Programs: Do you support or oppose prohibiting the use of direct federal taxpayer funds for religious instruction, worship, or proselytizing?
Answer: Support
"Direct federal taxpayer dollars should never fund religious worship, instruction, or proselytizing. Public funds must strictly support secular public services for all community members."
4. LGBTQ+ Federal Civil-Rights Protections: Do you support or oppose explicitly adding sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil-rights laws?
Answer: Support
"Every American deserves equal protection under the law. Explicitly adding sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights laws ensures dignity, fairness, and safety nationwide."
5. Abortion Access: Do you support or oppose establishing federal protections for abortion access nationwide?
Answer: Support
"Healthcare decisions belong to patients, their families, and their doctors. I support codifying federal protections for abortion access to restore bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom."
6. Churches and Candidate Endorsements: Do you support or oppose changing federal law to allow houses of worship to endorse or oppose political candidates while retaining their tax-exempt status?
Answer: Oppose
"Houses of worship must maintain tax-exempt status by staying out of partisan politics. Allowing political endorsement would turn religious institutions into untraceable political PACs."
7. Is there anything else you would like voters to know?
"As a former City Commissioner and small business owner, I am dedicated to straight talk, radical transparency, and protecting church-state separation. I will fight to protect public schools, strengthen civil rights, lower living costs, and ensure our government serves all citizens equally."
Deva Simmons
No Party Affiliation
Did Not Respond
Florida Senate District 12
Colleen Burton (i)
Republican
Did Not Respond
Alfred Reynolds
Democrat
-
1. Religious/Conscience Refusals in Health Care and Other Regulated Professions: Do you support or oppose allowing health care providers to refuse otherwise lawful care to patients when the refusal is based solely on the provider’s religious, moral, or ethical beliefs rather than medical judgment or the patient’s preferences?
Answer: Support
"However, if there is a situation where the patient's life is in danger, the provider cannot refuse to provide medical care to the patient."
2. Religious Activity in Taxpayer-Funded Religious Programs: Do you support or oppose prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds for religious instruction, worship, or proselytizing in public-service programs operated by religious organizations?
Answer: Support
"There are many needy people, such as homeless, newly arrived immigrants, etc. who prefer to get help from a religious organization. As long as the funding is not used for other purposes, I support it"
3. Government-Sponsored Religious Displays: Do you support or oppose allowing permanent government-sponsored devotional religious displays, such as the Ten Commandments, Bible verses, or crosses, in public schools or government buildings?
Answer: Oppose
"The separation of church and state is the legal and philosophical principle that government and religious institutions must remain independent of each other."
4. Voucher-Funded School Nondiscrimination: Do you support or oppose requiring private schools that receive state voucher funds to prohibit discrimination against students and families based on sexual orientation or gender identity?
Answer: Support
"Publicly funded programs should remain open to everyone in the community without hidden or explicit ideological barriers."
5. Reproductive Rights: Do you support or oppose maintaining Florida’s current six-week abortion restriction?
Answer: Oppose
"This law bans the procedure before many individuals even realize they are pregnant, effectively criminalizing essential reproductive healthcare."
6. Medically Accurate Sex Education: Do you support or oppose requiring Florida public schools to provide medically accurate, age-appropriate reproductive health education that includes contraception and disease prevention in addition to abstinence?
Answer: Support
"I support it because research links it to lower rates of teen pregnancy, fewer sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and healthier decision-making among youth."
7. Science Education and Religious Influence: Do you support or oppose requiring public school science instruction to be based on established scientific evidence without presenting religious doctrine as science?
Answer: Support
"Requiring public school science instruction to rely on established evidence rather than religious doctrine protects constitutional standards and ensures academic integrity."
8. Is there anything else you would like voters to know?
"No"
Florida House District 48
Jonathan Albert (i)
Republican
Did Not Respond
Alethea Pugh
Democrat
Did Not Respond
Florida House District 49
Robert Anzalone
Democrat
-
1. Religious/Conscience Refusals in Health Care and Other Regulated Professions: Do you support or oppose allowing health care providers to refuse otherwise lawful care to patients when the refusal is based solely on the provider’s religious, moral, or ethical beliefs rather than medical judgment or the patient’s preferences?
Answer: Oppose
"Religious freedom doesn't give providers the right to deny lawful care. Patients deserve treatment based on medical need, not a provider's personal beliefs."
2. Religious Activity in Taxpayer-Funded Religious Programs: Do you support or oppose prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds for religious instruction, worship, or proselytizing in public-service programs operated by religious organizations?
Answer: Support
"Taxpayer dollars fund public services, not religious institutions."
3. Government-Sponsored Religious Displays: Do you support or oppose allowing permanent government-sponsored devotional religious displays, such as the Ten Commandments, Bible verses, or crosses, in public schools or government buildings?
Answer: Oppose
"Government buildings and public schools belong to everyone regardless of faith. Permanent devotional displays cross the constitutional line between respecting religion and endorsing it."
4. Voucher-Funded School Nondiscrimination: Do you support or oppose requiring private schools that receive state voucher funds to prohibit discrimination against students and families based on sexual orientation or gender identity?
Answer: Support
"If you take public dollars, you follow public nondiscrimination standards. No student should be turned away or mistreated because of who they are or who their family is."
5. Reproductive Rights: Do you support or oppose maintaining Florida’s current six-week abortion restriction?
Answer: Oppose
"Reproductive decisions belong to patients and their doctors. A six-week ban restricts care before most women know they're pregnant. I support full repeal and restoring women’s reproductive rights."
6. Medically Accurate Sex Education: Do you support or oppose requiring Florida public schools to provide medically accurate, age-appropriate reproductive health education that includes contraception and disease prevention in addition to abstinence?
Answer: Support
"Abstinence-only education failed Florida's students. Young people deserve medically accurate age-appropriate information about contraception and disease prevention so they can make informed decisions."
7. Science Education and Religious Influence: Do you support or oppose requiring public school science instruction to be based on established scientific evidence without presenting religious doctrine as science?
Answer: Support
"Classrooms must be grounded in evidence. Evolution, climate science, and the origins of life are settled science. Florida students deserve an education that prepares them to compete in the real world."
8. Is there anything else you would like voters to know?
"I'm not a politician. I'm your neighbor. I've been knocking doors in Fort Meade, speaking at city halls, and fighting for communities that feel unheard. That doesn't stop when I win. It gets louder. Polk County deserves someone who shows up. I show up."
Jennifer Kincart Jonsson (i)
Republican
Did Not Respond
Florida House District 50
Jennifer Canady (i)
Republican
Did Not Respond
Ricky Santiago
Democrat
Did Not Respond
Jarvis Washington
No Party Affiliation
Did Not Respond
Florida House District 51
Octavio F. Hernandez
Democrat
Did Not Respond
Hilary Holley (i)
Republican
Did Not Respond
School District 3
Victor Sims
Non-partisan race
-
1. What is your relationship to or experience with public schools in your county?
"I grew up in Polk County Public Schools attending 12 different schools from my K-12 experience."
2. Voucher Expansion: Do you support or oppose the continued expansion of public funding for private school vouchers and education savings accounts in Florida?
Answer: Oppose
"I believe we have to get right what we are currently doing with our voucher system."
3. Chaplain Program: Do you support or oppose a volunteer school chaplain program in your school district?
Answer: Support
"As long as the chaplain program matches the child and families pracitced religious activities."
4. School Library Materials: Do you support or oppose a local school board policy that prioritizes keeping challenged library books accessible to students while a formal review is conducted, unless the material must be removed under state law?
Answer: Support
"It' the law and it's important that we follow the law."
5. Religious Displays in Public Schools: Do you support or oppose allowing school-sponsored religious displays, such as the Ten Commandments, Bible verses, crosses, or other devotional materials, in classrooms or school buildings beyond what state law requires or what is used in a neutral curriculum context?
Answer: Oppose
"This should be something that is practiced at home."
6. Reproductive Health Curriculum: Do you support or oppose comprehensive reproductive health curriculum that includes medically accurate information on disease prevention and contraception alongside required abstinence instruction?
Answer: Support
7. Release Time for Religious Instruction: Do you support or oppose local school board policies that expand or facilitate "release time" programs for off-campus religious instruction during the regular school day beyond what is required by state law?
Answer: Support
"If a parent makes this request it is their choice. As a parent choice state long as we don't mandate this for other people's children."
8. Staff-led Prayer and Religious Expression: Do you support or oppose local school board policies that restrict staff-led prayer or staff participation in prayer with students during regular school hours and school-sanctioned activities?
Answer: Support
Kate Wallace (i)
Non-partisan race
Did Not Respond