Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s campaign is slamming two Florida Democrats over their no votes on the Zika Vector Control Act.
In a memo Thursday, Courtney Alexander, a spokeswoman for the lieutenant governor’s U.S. Senate campaign, slammed Democrats Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy over their decision to vote against the proposal. Both congressmen are battling it out for their party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate.
“With over 500 cases of Zika confirmed in the United States, and over 100 of those cases here in Florida, the two congressmen seemingly forgot the people they represent,” she wrote.
“The Zika Vector Control Act eliminates the barriers that currently exist to fight Zika, to speed up the process of controlling and combating the virus,” she continued. “As Zika continues to spread, it is imperative to act now to stop the virus before it is too late. Considering over 200,000 babies are born each year in Florida, Zika is nothing to play politics with.”
On Wednesday, the Florida Department of Health announced four new cases of Zika in Florida. That brings the total number of cases in Florida to 158. That sum includes 36 cases involving pregnant women, regardless of symptoms.
The bill passed the House 258-156, largely along party lines. Several other Florida Democrats voted against the measure.
“This truth is that this bill does nothing to actually fight Zika. Instead, its sole focus is to gut the Clean Water Act, and this is just another overtly political attempt by Republicans to play games with a serious health issue,” said Galia Slayen, a spokeswoman for the Murphy campaign. “Patrick has been at the forefront of the Zika fight, working to allocate more resources to ensure that we are protecting Floridians from the spread of this virus.”
Lopez-Cantera is one of five Republicans vying for their party’s nomination to replace Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate. He faces Rep. Ron DeSantis, Rep. David Jolly, Carlos Beruff and Todd Wilcox.
The U.S. Senate primary is Aug. 30.
