Berman faces newcomer Byers in race for newly drawn district

A 12-year Palm Beach County state lawmaker faces a political newcomer on the ballot in November.

State Sen. Lori Berman, a Democrat, is being challenged by Steve Byers of Delray Beach in the race to represent the newly drawn Florida Senate District 26, which covers the east coast from Boynton Beach to the northern part of Boca Raton, and out to the western boundary of Palm Beach County, including the Glades.

As of the end of September, more than 392,000 voters live in the district, with more than 163,000 registered as Democrats, 109,000 Republican and 111,400 with no party affiliation.

Berman is a lawyer by trade and Byers is an insurance claims adjuster, beekeeper and founder of Hilltop Christian Fellowship in Monticello.

Among her legislative priorities, Berman lists affordable health care, protecting access to abortion, public school funding, climate change and preventing gun violence.

In her dozen years in office, which she has spent both in the state House and Senate, Berman said she was most proud of passing a bill for a Purple Alert. Like the Amber Alert for children or Silver Alert for seniors, a Purple Alert sends out missing person notification for an adult with developmental disabilities. The state senator also helped to add workplace discrimination protections for pregnant women in state law.

But there is still work left to do, she said, like expanding Medicaid and passing Greyson's Law, which seeks to revoke or suspend shared custody if the child or other parent believed they could be victims of domestic violence. But, Berman acknowledged, accomplishing these things and other Democratic priorities, including protecting abortion rights, may be challenging if Gov. Ron DeSantis is re-elected and the GOP maintains comfortable majorities in Tallahassee.

"I couldn't be in the Legislature if I wasn't a glass half-full kind of person," Berman said. "If the governor gets a mandate, if he wins by the double digits that I'm hearing about lately, I think that it will be a really tough session for the minority party. And I think that there will be very little compromise because the governor will be setting himself up to run for president."

Byers' top issues include homeowners insurance and HOAs, in addition to voter fraud. He believes that supervisors of elections should be able to know how each voter cast a ballot as a form of audit, and while he homeschools his children, he felt that it was important to invest in public schools by incentivizing teachers with better pay.

If elected, Byers believes his party affiliation would work to his advantage. He ran for this seat to serve as a choice for voters. "If I'm up there as a Republican, I've at least got a majority that if I can sway and they like me, we'll make a difference," he said.

The issue of abortion was shaping up to be the Legislature's top issue next session -- something that Berman said she hopes voters won't forget about, saying that DeSantis' re-election would ensure abortion would "be even more limited." But Hurricane Ian and the property insurance market will certainly change the legislative focus, both candidates said.

Berman said potential solutions to the insurance crisis include putting together a national catastrophic fund, akin to the state's fund that partially reimburses insurers' hurricane losses. She would also like to require insurance companies that provide auto insurance in Florida but write property insurance business elsewhere to offer similar coverage.

Byers, who worked with property owners hit by Hurricane Michael in 2018, said he felt that insurance companies were "greedy" and "out of touch," and that lawmakers were just parroting the insurance companies' claims that frivolous lawsuits were affecting their bottom line.

"The hand's getting greedy. The hand's getting stuck in the cookie jar. We need them to let go of a few cookies so you can pull your hand out of the cookie jar," he said. "The solution is to get them to realize the risk-reward benefit doesn't have to be so fat for the insurance companies."

Lori Berman

Age and residence: 64, lives in Delray Beach

Top campaign priorities: Ensuring quality, affordable health care, protecting women's rights and access to abortion, fully funding traditional public schools, addressing climate change, preventing gun violence.

Professional history: Trust and estates attorney; former legislative assistant to former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.

Political background: Florida House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. State senator since 2019.

Education: Tufts University, B.A., 1980; George Washington University Law School, J.D., 1983; University of Miami, LLM-Estate Planning, 2002.

Criminal history: None

Endorsements: AFL-CIO; Economic Council PAC of PBC; FOP; SEIU; Ruth's List; FMA; FEA; Professional Firefighters / Paramedics of PBC - IAFF Local 2928; Equality Florida; Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida; Florida Rising; Planned Parenthood; Freethought Equality Fund PAC; Palm Beach County PBA; Florida Realtors; Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate; The Hispanic Vote of PBC; PBC Classroom Teachers Association; Boca Chamber of Commerce-BLU-PAC; Prevent Gun

Finances: Berman has raised almost $167,855 from the end of December 2020 to Oct. 7 of this year. She has spent more than $149,000. She has received 130 $1,000 donations, the most an individual or business can contribute to a candidate, and more than one-third of the 193 individual donations to her campaign has come from political action committees.

Steve Byers

Age and residence: 54, lives in Delray Beach

Top campaign priorities: Voter integrity, homeowners insurance and HOA issues.

Professional history: Founder of Hilltop Christian Fellowship, beekeeper, insurance claims adjuster.

Political background: This is Byers' first run for office.

Education: High school degree; studied computer engineering for 3.5years at Virginia Tech

Criminal history: None

Endorsements: Restore Liberty, Stand for Health Freedom and the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida.

Finances: Byers has raised nearly $3,500 from 17 donors and loaned his campaign $54,800 as of Oct. 7. He has spent more than $48,000.