Jacob Ogles
Among the GOP’s most surprising legislative wins in 2022 was Susan Plasencia’s upset victory over progressive Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith. But now the Republican incumbent faces a heavily funded challenge from Democrat Nate Douglas for her House District 37 seat.
The 23-year-old candidate has massively outraised Plasencia as Democrats seek to claw back the University of Central Florida (UCF)-centered district from Republican control. He sees the incumbent’s record on LGBTQ rights, dismantling of higher education and general inaccessibility to constituents as a dramatic failure. And unlike two years ago, Douglas said voters know about what the incumbent stands for and why it should be rejected.
“Not once during her time on the campaign trail did she talk about her views on the LGBTQ+ community? But then when she got to the state Legislature, she voted on anti LGBTQ+ legislation,” Douglas said.
“Not once did she talk about her views on abortion. Then when it came to the state Legislature, she voted for the six-week abortion ban. Not once did she talk about bailouts for large insurance companies. Then what’d she do? She bailed out insurance companies to the tune of $1 billion. The problem is that we currently have a state legislator in Susan Plasencia that is not transparent, and she’s not communicating with voters about where her positions on issues are. And why isn’t she doing that? It’s because it’s unpopular.”
Plasencia, though, takes significant issue with that characterization of her record. The Orlando Republican said she has approached her work in the House with a focus on issues that impact her constituents’ lives directly.
“As a pragmatic person, I promised the voters I would focus my time on issues that would make life better and more affordable for our citizens, which is what I’ve done,” she said.
“I worked on reforms that are now starting to bring down the cost of property insurance, cut taxes on baby needs, back-to-school items, hurricane preparedness, household items and on professional equipment for tradespeople. I brought back an additional $42.5 million for local roads, veterans housing, vocational training, schools and assistance for low income and special needs residents like autism. So, my greatest contributions have been a combination of those listed items that are helping families fight the hardships of inflation. That will also continue to be my priority.”
Both sides have spent more than six figures reaching voters in the Orange-Seminole seat. But this is one of a handful of races in the state where the challenger has spent significantly more.
Though mid-October, Douglas raised more than $273,000 for his campaign, and had $117,000 cash left. Plasencia, by contrast, had raised more than $160,000 and was down to $47,000 in the bank.
Meanwhile, the incumbent’s Team Plasencia political committee had about $78,000 as of Oct. 28. But Douglas’ Warriors of Change had almost $205,000.
Douglas feels Plasencia’s vote to dismantle UCF’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and disrupt curricula to the point of yanking sociology classes from offerings will be judged especially harshly by voters.
He’s a recent graduate of the University of Florida, though he grew up in Orange County. He said he understands the needs of all residents in the district more than Plasencia.
“I started realizing that a lot of folks in office just aren’t working for working families like my own,” he said. “I decided to take on a role where I became more involved in politics.”
Plasencia said she appreciates Douglas’ passion for politics, but said the voters in her district two years ago made their opinion known on the same liberal rhetoric.
“Nate is a nice kid, but he’s following the same radical playbook the voters rejected two years ago by trying to create a controversy where one doesn’t exist,” she said.
She also said she has stood up for LGBTQ constituents during her time in office, and shared a “thank you” note from Equality Florida, Florida’s top LGBTQ advocacy group, for voting against a House-passed bill last year restricting transgender people from listing their gender identity on drivers’ licenses. She also pointed at a radio interview where Douglas said he opposes many of the measures the Legislature did pass to ease consumer costs.
“The questions that need to be asked are for Nate: Why does he oppose cutting property taxes for homeowners? Why does he oppose reforming property insurance to bring down the costs?” Plasencia said.
“His response was to fix the climate. Families need relief now, not decades down the road. The reality is that every idea Nate offers raises the cost of living for the average family. Again, I’m running to make life more affordable for average people. Families are financially struggling, and they are my priority. We’ve had enough partisan grandstanding by my predecessor, and I don’t think the voters want to go back to that.”
