OPINION: When primaries go wild! Miller, Sturgill attack each other on positions … where they agree

July 25--The weirdest race in Central Florida right now has to be the testy GOP primary between Mike Miller and Scott Sturgill.

Both Republicans want to take on Democrat Stephanie Murphy in the congressional district that covers Winter Park and Seminole County.

Both are beating the snot out of each other.

And both are accusing each other of running away from liberal or moderate positions they took in the past.

Here's the weird part: Both are right.

Take Obamacare, for instance.

Miller, a state rep, is blasting Sturgill, a Sanford businessman, for wanting to expand "Obamacare by $51 billion in Florida" -- a position Sturgill indeed touted in an endorsement interview with the Orlando Sentinel's editorial board in 2014.

Why is that a bizarre attack? Because Miller supported the exact same thing ... at the same time ... in an interview with the same people.

Back in 2014, when Miller also sought the Sentinel's endorsement in a previous race, he too said he was in favor of accepting $51 billion in federal money to expand Medicaid coverage in Florida.

Miller even told the endorsers he was sick of Florida being "a donor state."

Both guys say they have since concluded the expansion was a bad idea and reversed their positions.

But the bottom line is: Both supported it. Both opposed it. And now they're fighting over the exact same flip-flop.

Really, this primary reflects much of what's wrong with politics -- candidates who say different things at different times and run to one extreme during a primary, only to try to scurry back to the middle and re-invent themselves as moderates in a general.

And the most depressing thing about this race is that I think both Miller and Sturgill are probably decent guys at heart.

I've talked with both through the years, heard them offer thoughtful insights on politics and our community.

But the two guys campaigning now are caricatures of their former selves.

Sturgill -- a guy who not only supported Obamacare in Florida, but also universal background checks for guns, making him the very definition of a moderate -- is now posting rants about "Crooked Hillary Clinton," "lefty lunacy" and evil within the "deep state" while penning love notes to the controversial consultant Roger Stone and blasting Miller as a "liberal" and a "hack."

There was a time when Sturgill seemed like a guy who might go up to D.C. and build bridges. The same with Miller. But you don't see much evidence of it now.

Another problem for Republicans with this run-far-right strategy is that it may also be a losing strategy after the Aug. 28 primary.

See, the woman they want to unseat is about as moderate a Democrat as Central Florida has elected -- one of the most centrist Dems in the House, according to the nonpartisan vote-trackers at Govtrack.us.

In fact, based on votes and bipartisan bills sponsored, Govtrack ranked Murphy about as close to center as Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaskan senator known for her independence.

GovTrack.us

GovTrack ranks Winter Park Democrat US Rep. Stephanie Murphy -- represented on this chart by the pink triangle, just left of center -- as one of the more moderate members of the U.S. House.

GovTrack ranks Winter Park Democrat US Rep. Stephanie Murphy -- represented on this chart by the pink triangle, just left of center -- as one of the more moderate members of the U.S. House. (GovTrack.us)

Murphy knew she was running in a purple district. So she campaigned as a moderate, was elected as a moderate and has largely served as a moderate.

Meanwhile, these two guys -- with formerly moderate positions -- are trying to one-up each other on the fringe factor. Miller has also attacked Sturgill (whom Miller called a lying "fraud") for previously supporting universal background checks ... a position supported by the vast majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle.

I know the pressure to run to the far right -- or left -- during primaries frustrates even some candidates. Some have privately told me: I'd like to be myself, but I can't make it through a primary if I am.

I understand the thinking ... but am not sympathetic.

Some people say campaigns build character. I think they simply reveal it.

If you can't hold to your values during a campaign, why should voters expect you to hold them in Washington, where money, influence and pressure are even more intense?

These messy fights also bolster a case I made in yesterday's column about the need for party-less primaries.

See, party primaries pressure candidates to pander to the hard-liners. That's not where most of America is. Most of us aren't far left or far right. If America was a football field, we'd be somewhere between the 40-yard lines.

But the primaries are run deep in the end zones.

And it can lead to a more divided electorate, a coarsening of debate, representatives who don't actually represent the way most moderate Americans feel and candidates arguing over things they agreed on ... until they decided they didn't.

smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com

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