Two veteran politicians will face off in Florida’s 15th Congressional District in November.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp, a Democrat, is trying to unseat first-term Laurel Lee, R-Tampa.
Lee became the first representative of Florida’s newly appointed U.S. Congressional District 15 in November 2022. She decisively defeated two of her party’s challengers in the primaries, receiving more than 70% of the vote. She wants to be re-elected for a second two-year term in November.
District 15 includes western Polk County, including Lakeland west of South Florida Avenue, along with portions of Hillsborough and Pasco counties.
Pat Kemp
Kemp serves on the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, where she has represented District 6 since 2016.
Her previous political experience goes back more than three decades. She was chief assistant to Congresswoman Kathy Castor when she served on the Hillsborough County Commission. She also served as an assistant to Florida Rep. Sarah Romeo. Kemp has a career as an attorney, having worked in private practice and for Bay Area Legal Services, providing civil legal services to low-income clients. She has experience as a news director and radio host at WUSF and WMNF stations.
Kemp said she has worked to drive investment to accelerate access to critical sewer and wastewater services in Hillsborough’s urban centers and has led a charge to increase impact fees to ensure developers pay their fair share for the impact of new developments.
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In light of the recent storms, Kemp said she was “shocked” to learn Lee did not vote in favor of the relief bill that included funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“To me, that’s just reprehensible, shocking and playing politics instead of taking care of the needs of our district and doing what we need to do,” she said.
Kemp said that if elected, she would do everything possible at the federal level to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again. She strongly supports Florida residents voting for Amendment 4, which aims to enshrine access to abortion in the state Constitution.
“Women are losing their rights and access to reproductive health care,” she said. “They lose access to doctors.”
Kemp pointed to states like Idaho, which passed abortion bans well before Florida, and the impact this has had on the availability of reproductive health care. She said it is not right that patients in high-risk, complicated situations are advised to seek care in neighboring countries because the doctor risks failing to provide care or losing their medical license, or being airlifted when faced with critical situations such as ectopic pregnancies.
“I’m sure we don’t know how many women are facing difficult circumstances and possibly dying,” she said.
Kemp said millions of Americans are suffering the effects of inflation and one of the major problems in the Tampa Bay region is the speculative economy with housing and growth.
“We need to look at housing costs first,” she said.
Kemp said she is a strong supporter of affordable housing, having encouraged Hillsborough to set aside $10 million a year to build affordable housing and provide down payment assistance for single-family homes. One of the main problems, she said, is that private companies have stepped in and are buying up newly built homes to rent out for a profit.
“That’s the real plague,” she said. “There really needs to be work done by Congress to look at the federal tax codes and laws so that more of these properties would be available to families.”
If elected, Kemp said she would also call for stricter oversight of energy rates and fees, as well as possible price gouging by private companies selling basic necessities.
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“I think we need to look at all these sectors and look carefully at how we can stop the runaway inflation that is happening in every possible way,” she said.
Large corporations must pay their fair share of federal taxes. Kemp said she believes former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts mainly benefited the wealthy, giving benefits to multimillionaires instead of ordinary working Americans.
Laurier Lee
Lee is perhaps best known as Governor Ron DeSantis’ former secretary of state. She lives in New Tampa with her husband, Tom, and has three children.
Lee was appointed secretary of state by DeSantis in January 2019, for just over three years. Before that, she was appointed as a court judge by the then government. Rick Scott in 2013. She was re-elected to this position in 2014.
Previously, she was a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida. She investigated and litigated on a wide range of criminal offences, including white collar and violent crimes, and cases involving the sexual exploitation of children.
Lee said she has focused intensely in recent weeks on serving constituents in her district, especially those hit hard by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“My office exists from a constituent services perspective to assist all residents in times of need, especially when that need is something from the federal government,” she said.
Lee is among the Florida Republicans who voted against the relief bill, which ultimately passed, to fund government programs through December 20. This law included funding for FEMA, which can be considered crucial in light of the problems in the area. recent hurricanes.
“It is not an appropriate way for Congress to allocate the government’s spending,” she said. “I have voted against these continuing resolutions in the past.”
Lee said she thinks Congress needs to get back on track to curb government overspending. Instead of using repeated emergency bills to prevent a government shutdown, she said it should return to the tradition of appropriations bills being fully reviewed by the appropriate committees before being voted on.
“I certainly understand how important FEMA funding and disaster relief is for a state like ours that is prone to these severe weather events,” Lee said. “I am prepared to return to Washington DC for a special session if necessary.”
Longer term, Lee says the federal government needs to come up with strategies to build resilience. She said she hopes the widespread impacts of the recent storms will help bring together a larger coalition of states.
Lee has praised the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning Roe vs. Wade, which returned the issue of women’s reproductive rights to individual states. She said that based on her background as a federal prosecutor, she always felt the decision was an improper exercise of power by the judiciary.
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“Personally, I am pro-life and believe we should support a culture of life, but I have always supported exceptions in the areas of rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother,” she said.
Lee said she does not believe Congress, or the federal government, should step in to instruct states on abortion access or restrictions. Although she opposes Florida Amendment 4, saying its wording is too broadly written, Florida voters will have to make a decision in November.
One issue Lee wants to address is the state of the US economy and inflation. She is a staunch supporter of energy independence and believes that while the country should explore alternative fuel sources, it should retain what is reliable: fossil fuels and gas-powered vehicles.
“It affects the overall cost of making and transporting goods,” she said. “Items at your local grocery store or Walmart will cost more if we don’t keep energy costs lower, and those costs will be passed on to consumers.”
Lee said she will call for the elimination of unnecessary regulations that can burden small businesses. She said congressional committees should review any legislation that has significant costs or impacts on business to determine whether it has the desired impact.
An important part of reducing government spending, Lee said, would be protecting the province’s southern border. She said the millions of people who have crossed the border illegally are taking an unsustainable toll on the country’s schools, hospitals and government programs. She supports temporary H-2 visa programs for legal immigration, including temporary agricultural workers.
Campaign financing
Lee has collected more than four times as much as her challenger, Kemp, in her bid for District 15.
Lee has raised more than $2 million, with approximately $515,000 coming from individual contributions and approximately $1.5 million coming from various committees. Some of her top commission donations include Publix Super Markets Inc. Associates PAC for $3,300; National Grocers Association Grocers PAC for $5,000; National Electrical Contractors Association PAC and National Association of Chemical Distributors Responsible Distribution PAC for $5,000.
Notable individuals who contributed to Lee’s campaign include Hoyt Barnett of Publix for $6,600; Todd Wanek, president and CEO of Ashley Furniture HomeStores at $9,900, and his wife, Karen, at $9,900; Ron Wanek, president of Ashley Furniture for $6,600.
By comparison, Kemp has raised about $455,000 as of the Sept. 30 FEC filing. Of this, more than $364,000 came from individual contributions and $41,000 from committee contributions. The vast majority of Kemp’s individual contributions were made through ActBlue.
This article originally appeared in The Ledger: Laurel Lee and Pat Kemp face off in Florida Congressional District 10
