Florida AFL-CIO

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Labor

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Progressive lens

On this ballot

• Amendment 1: Budget Stabilization Fund
  Mark your ballot: Amendment 1: Budget Stabilization Fund

  YesNoCreative Loafing's pick

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks No

  • It would let the state's rainy-day fund grow from 10% to 25% of general revenue; Florida TaxWatch says reaching that could take 22 years.
  • The fund, created in 1992, is nearly full and hasn't been drawn on since 2008. Nothing needs fixing.
  • CL doesn't want to give Tallahassee more control over tax money, and notes Gov. DeSantis is also urging a No.

  Ray Roa, Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Florida's Constitutional Amendments

• Attorney General
  Mark your ballot: Attorney General

  James UthmeierREP (Republican)Jose Javier RodriguezCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks José Javier Rodríguez

  Creative Loafing listed this pick in its guide without a write-up.

  Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: How to vote in Tampa Bay, and who we're voting for

• Chief Financial Officer
  Mark your ballot: Chief Financial Officer

  Blaise IngogliaREP (Republican)Annette TaddeoCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Annette Taddeo

  Creative Loafing listed this pick in its guide without a write-up.

  Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: How to vote in Tampa Bay, and who we're voting for

• Governor and Lieutenant Governor
  Mark your ballot: Governor and Lieutenant Governor

  Byron Donalds and Bryan AvilaREP (Republican)David Jolly and Gwen GrahamCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)Scott Eckhard Jewett and Nicole SkellyLPF (Libertarian Party of Florida)Charles Burkett and Ruben A. CotoNPA (No Party Affiliation)Frank J. Russo and Rachel RodriguezNPA (No Party Affiliation)Moliere "Moe" Dimanche and Benjiman RojasNPA (No Party Affiliation)Dean Ocean Abrams and Joe Van VactorNPA (No Party Affiliation)Jeffrey Peter "Dr. Jeff" Datto and Juan SantanaNPA (No Party Affiliation)Write-in

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks David Jolly / Gwen Graham

  Creative Loafing listed this pick in its guide without a write-up.

  Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: How to vote in Tampa Bay, and who we're voting for

• State Representative — District 64
  Mark your ballot: State Representative — District 64

  Dan WeldonREP (Republican)Luis SalazarCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Luis Salazar

  Creative Loafing listed this pick in its guide without a write-up.

  Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: How to vote in Tampa Bay, and who we're voting for

• State Senator — District 14
  Mark your ballot: State Senator — District 14

  Josie TomkowREP (Republican)Brian NathanCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Brian Nathan

  • CL calls the Republican ad tying Nathan to the Party for Socialism and Liberation a desperate smear: it is built on a CL photo from a May Day workers' rally that the West Central Florida Labor Council helped organize.
  • Nathan, who won the seat in a special election in March, stands with working people; CL sees that as a belief that honest work should pay for a dignified life, not as socialism.
  • Against Josie Tomkow: in nearly eight years in the Legislature she voted for the 2023 limits on public-sector unions (SB 256), skipped the final vote on the 2024 bill blocking local heat-protection and wage rules (HB 433), and this year voted for a law making public-sector union recertification harder.
  • More broadly, CL says Florida Republicans claim to be the workers' party while resisting minimum-wage increases, banning local living-wage rules for contractors and loosening child-labor protections.

  Ray Roa, Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Tampa Bay's Florida State Senators

• Representative in Congress — District 14
  Mark your ballot: Representative in Congress — District 14

  Mike BeltranREP (Republican)Kathy CastorCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)Brian LambertLPF (Libertarian Party of Florida)Write-in

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Kathy Castor

  • Castor is one of the hardest-working members of Congress and has reliably brought federal money home to Tampa Bay projects over her 20 years.
  • CL grants the case against her: a long tenure, and some Democrats cooled on her after she was among a handful who backed a House resolution denouncing socialism.
  • The deciding factor is her opponent. Mike Beltran calls himself "MAGA Mike," and CL argues that loyalty to Trump makes him no check on the executive branch, whatever his reputation for breaking with Florida Republicans.

  Ray Roa, Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Hillsborough and Pinellas congressional seats

• United States Senator
  Mark your ballot: United States Senator

  Ashley MoodyREP (Republican)Angie NixonCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)Neil J. GillespieNPA (No Party Affiliation)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Angie Nixon

  • Nixon won the Democratic primary decisively despite being outspent 16 to 1 by the party's preferred candidate, and CL calls her easy to get behind.
  • She was a single mother for 12 years and runs a Jacksonville bookstore and coffee shop. In six years in the Legislature she filed early-learning bills, fought cuts to public schools and limits on abortion, and was arrested protesting the gerrymandered congressional maps.
  • Her agenda, as CL reports it: extend Affordable Care Act subsidies first, lower costs, shore up Social Security and protect families from medical bankruptcy, partly by raising taxes on the very wealthy.
  • CL relays Nixon's case against Ashley Moody: Moody's role in the Hope Florida scandal, her stock trading, her vote for the "Big Beautiful Bill" and its Medicaid cuts, and her refusal to debate.

  The guide lists Nixon without a write-up; these reasons are from CL's Oct. 19 story on her Ybor City rally, which recommends her.

  Ray Roa (with Dave Decker), In Ybor City, Angie Nixon and Bernie Sanders rally against ‘lying, cheating, scheming, thieving Ashley Moody’ (w/photos)

Stances Endorsement

Each endorser's own stated position, as recorded in the progressive and right-leaning guides.

Where it appears