Fresh faces challenge veteran lawmakers for Senate seats covering Sarasota and Manatee

Oct. 19--A pair of veteran GOP lawmakers are facing off against two young Democratic challengers for state Senate seats representing Sarasota and Manatee counties, with the candidates sharply divided on how to respond to the coronavirus, racial unrest and other issues.

Democrats are hoping to make gains in the Florida Senate, where the GOP currently holds a 23-17 seat advantage. They've invested heavily in flipping GOP-held seats in the Orlando and Miami areas.

The District 21 seat covering Manatee County and part of Hillsborough County and the District 23 seat covering Sarasota County and part of Charlotte County are not getting the same kind of investment.

Both districts lean Republican and have GOP candidates who are better known after years of public service and who have raised far more money than their Democratic opponents.

The races have not attracted much attention, but the Democrats have been working to increase their profiles through digital efforts that maximize their limited funds.

In District 23, Democrat Katherine Norman has released a series of videos criticizing GOP Sen. Joe Gruters's legislative record, particularly on the environment. Gruters recently put out a television ad touting environmental legislation he passed.

In District 21, Democrat Tony Eldon led a Black Lives Matter march and has participated in others, contrasting with his GOP opponent, former state Rep. Jim Boyd, who emphasizes his support for law enforcement and concerns about looting and property destruction that have followed some protests.

Gruters and Boyd have all the advantages. But they are running against opponents who are outsiders at a time when that is often seen by voters as an asset. Norman, 31, and Eldon, 23, also could appeal to younger voters who tend to be less engaged in legislative races.

A victory by either Democrat would be a huge upset, but this is a particularly volatile election cycle.

Both Eldon and Boyd are Manatee County natives, but the similarities end there.

Eldon is a 23-year-old Black man who overcame a dysfunctional childhood to graduate from college and become a teacher. Boyd is a 63-year-old white man whose insurance business has made him a multimillionaire. Boyd's uncle and grandfather both served in the Legislature.

Eldon said his father was in and out of jail and his mother moved away, so he was raised by his grandparents. He watched his father get arrested once for driving with a suspended license.

"As a child, that is traumatizing," he said.

There were no Black male teachers to serve as role models for Eldon when he was in school, so he decided to become a teacher himself. He got a job at Buffalo Creek Middle School in Palmetto after graduating from the University of South Florida in 2019.

"I wanted to be that role model to Black kids," he said.

Growing up in Bradenton, Eldon said he experienced racism firsthand. He recalls people using the "n" word and being subject to suspicious looks "when you enter a building or a place you're not traditionally supposed to be as a Black man."

The Black Lives Matter protests struck a chord with Eldon.

Eldon's experience as a protester is one reason he strongly opposes a proposal put forward by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The governor is pitching a plan as an effort to crack down on rioting and lawlessness, but critics say it would criminalize peaceful protests.

Among other things, the legislation would make it a third-degree felony to block traffic while protesting and also would absolve drivers of liability if they kill or injure someone while "fleeing for safety from a mob."

"I've even stared down the police cars in marches before and cars that were barreling toward us when we marched," Eldon said. "So I'm no stranger to the danger that Ron DeSantis is saying is OK when he says vigilante vehicular justice is something we won't prosecute."

Eldon added that he has not witnessed rioting or looting at any of the 12 protests he participated in and said Florida leaders should be working toward racial justice instead of "making protesting essentially a felony as Ron DeSantis wants to do."

When it comes to the controversial notion of "defunding the police," Eldon said "at its core, defunding the police has little to do with defunding so much as rerouting the money" to social service efforts.

"I do like the issue of defunding the police in terms of rerouting the money but ... I know it's not going anywhere here in Florida," he added. "I'd rather focus on things that can be done."

Eldon also is sharply critical of DeSantis and other GOP leaders over how Florida has handled the coronavirus crisis. He noted that more than 1,000 Manatee County students have been quarantined because of potential exposure to someone who tested positive. He supports a statewide mask mandate.

"When it comes to COVID-19 response, voters should not leave it up to the people that have already failed them," Eldon said of Boyd and the GOP.

Eldon does not believe brick-and-mortar schools should have reopened for in-person instruction until the virus was better under control. A teacher walked out at his school during the first week "because of how many kids were in his room," Eldon said.

"I don't blame the school or the district, I blame Ron DeSantis for forcing us to do this in this climate," he said.

Meanwhile, Boyd strongly supports the governor's push to reopen schools and businesses.

"I think we're doing everything we can to be responsible and safe to open our schools and our economy," Boyd said. "The virus is bad enough, but to have our economy crushed as well is something that in a lot of people's minds is equally as bad, and I certainly understand that."

Boyd doesn't believe a statewide mask mandate is necessary and echoes DeSantis in saying the state should avoid further lockdowns, even if virus cases spike again.

And when it comes to the protests that flared up in many Florida communities over the summer, Boyd said Florida has been "fortunate" that most were peaceful, but that shouldn't stop the governor from trying to discourage future rioting and looting.

"I am 110% in favor of peaceful protests," Boyd said. "I think everyone has a right to express themselves in a peaceful way. What I do have a huge problem with is those that turn peaceful protests into violence and looting and burning and hurting law enforcement officers and first responders."

Law enforcement does not have a systemic problem, Boyd said, adding that there are "very few bad cops" from the evidence he's seen. He is inclined to support the governor's protest legislation.

"In general, I would support it," he said, adding: "If you break the law, there's consequences. What the level of those consequences are we can debate ... if you're peacefully protesting, you're not breaking the law, but if you step across the line and block traffic, you're breaking the law."

First elected in 2010, Boyd held a series of leadership positions in the Florida House -- including chairing various committees and serving as majority whip -- and took the lead on a range of high-profile issues that were top priorities for a succession of speakers, such as pension reform, campaign finance and ethics issues, an auto insurance overhaul and taxes. If elected, he would be well positioned for leadership posts in the Senate, following in the footsteps of outgoing Senate President Bill Galvano, also a Bradenton resident.

Most recently, Boyd sponsored opioid abuse legislation that became law. The bill restricted access to pain pills, limiting prescriptions for acute pain to a three-day supply of pills, or seven days if a doctor deems it medically necessary.

Boyd says he is particularly proud of his work on the opioid issue and wants to continue if he is elected to the Senate, possibly through enhanced youth education programs.

"I just felt very, very passionate on that fight and wanted to be at the forefront on that to make a difference, and I think some of what we did is making a difference," Boyd said, adding: "Sadly, the problem is not going away."

Another problem that has persisted in Southwest Florida is water quality concerns, which have been heightened in recent years because of red tide algae blooms.

Norman's interest in combating environmental degradation prompted her to get involved in the Sarasota County Democratic Party's Environmental Caucus, which led to her traveling to Tallahassee to lobby against bills she viewed as environmentally unfriendly, including a measure pushed by Galvano that would create three new toll roads.

Norman said the reception she received in Tallahassee was frustrating. Some Democrats she spoke to seemed resigned to the toll road bill because it was being pushed by a powerful lawmaker.

"I was incredibly disappointed with the response that I got ... I've yet to see somebody stand up adequately for our water quality," Norman said.

When Norman saw that Democrats did not have a candidate to challenge Gruters, she decided to enter the race.

Norman, a single mother of two young children, was born in North Carolina and lived in Bradenton as a child before moving around the country with her mother and eventually settling back in Sarasota, where she graduated from Riverview High School. She attended New York University but dropped out without a degree.

After college, Norman worked as a model, trained horses and pursued a career in acting before settling into a career in digital marketing. She has her own consulting company that helps small businesses boost their online presence.

Norman has an active online campaign that regularly takes shots at Gruters. A video her campaign put out highlights the poor grade Gruters received on Sierra Club Florida's scorecard, which tracks how lawmakers voted on environmental bills.

Norman also is passionate about racial justice and supports the Black Lives Matter movement. She participated in a protest in Tampa.

"I think that it's a real shame that Black Lives Matter has been maligned," she said. "It's been a peaceful movement and one that started before George Floyd's death. We've been fighting for racial justice for a very long time, and the country has not responded adequately."

And she is deeply critical of the governor's coronavirus response and what she views as Gruters' lax attitude toward the virus. She noted that he pushed to have the Republican National Convention in Florida before the event ultimately was moved because of the spike in virus cases over the summer.

Norman has her children back in school, but she does not believe schools should have reopened for in-person instruction.

"Schools should not have opened and businesses should not have opened, and I think we should have been provided economic relief from the government," she said.

As the Republican Party of Florida chair, Gruters travels the state campaigning for President Donald Trump and GOP candidates up and down the ballot.

But he also is taking his own campaign seriously, noting he is spending more money than he has in previous races for the House and Senate.

A recent television ad shows Gruters, 43, on a boat on Sarasota Bay and fishing with his children.

"Joe brought the hammer down on polluters who infect our water with raw sewage," the ad states.

Gruters sponsored a bill signed by DeSantis that increased fines on polluters. He also pushed for funding to help combat red tide. He describes Florida's waterways as "our crown jewel" and said protecting them should be paramount.

Gruters said the environmental measures he opposes, such as banning certain types of sunscreens because of their potential impact on coral reefs and "rights of nature" legislation that would allow lawsuits to be filed on behalf of the natural environment, are far-left ideas.

Norman wants to "ban Floridians from using sunscreen, she wants to give nature rights, like trees," Gruters said.

"Her positions are so far out of the mainstream ... I would call it a far-leftist agenda," he added.

A Sarasota native who graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School, Gruters earned degrees from Florida State University and the University of South Florida and works as a certified public accountant. He lost two early bids for the Florida House before working for U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, going on to chair the Sarasota GOP and finally winning a House seat in 2016. He jumped to the Senate in 2018.

Over the last two years, Gruters has passed 22 bills, including an intensely fought measure banning cities and counties from adopting so-called "sanctuary" policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Yet even as he pushes highly charged legislation, Gruters has worked with Democrats on issues such as LGBTQ rights and banning cigarette smoking on beaches.

"There are some heavily partisan bills, and some of those I do run," Gruters said, adding that he also is "proud of the bills that I have run that have not only bipartisan support but a lot of bipartisan co-sponsors."

As the party chair, Gruters is a lightning rod for criticism. He said he's frequently criticized for not wearing a mask, but he tries to do so when it's appropriate and encourages others to do the same. He strongly supports the governor's coronavirus response, and his law-and-order push to protests.

"What we've lost here is a lack of respect overall for authority," he said.

Gruters has collected $311,806 for his campaign and Boyd has raised $364,225, compared to $9,067 for Eldon and $8,791 for Norman.

The money mismatch is even more pronounced when factoring in funds raised by political committees that Gruters and Boyd control. Additionally, there are 45,824 more Republicans than Democrats in District 21, and 49,383 more in District 23.

That makes Gruters and Boyd the overwhelming favorites. But their opponents are making the case that a fresh approach is needed in Tallahassee.

"I would say that this is the time for new leadership and new voices," Norman said. "We are in unconventional times, and it's time for unconventional leadership."

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