Most voters who attended the candidate conversations, no matter what their political affiliation, said the economy was one of the main issues – if not the main issue – they’ll be focusing on when choosing their candidate.
What You Need To Know
- Democrat, Republican or NPA, three voters said the economy was at the top of their list
- One voter told Spectrum News that "a lot of things happened to create the perfect storm" with the U.S. economy
- They said they want to send lawmakers to Washington who can work in a bipartisan manner to get things done
- Meet the candidates for Districts 7, 9 and 10
“Congress needs to take responsibility for their role in inflation — they keep spending two dollars for every one dollar that comes in,” said David Henderson, a registered Republican. “It’s not sustainable, and everybody knows that, except Congress.”
Rita Grisius, a Republican, said inflation has forced her to make some tough financial choices.
“To get flood insurance — they want close to a thousand dollars — well with inflation, the way it’s heading, I’ve got either car insurance, health insurance to pay for and medicine and I can’t get the flood insurance,” she said. “Last year I was able to, but this year, no.”
Terry Whitted, a Democrat, said high gas prices have made his job extremely difficult.
“I’m a logistics manager, so we route trucks and we get stuff in and out of the country,” said Whitted. “So with the fuel prices so high, we’re always fighting to find the cheapest route.”
Jackie Colon is registered NPA (No Party Affiliation), and she said it’s time for lawmakers to stop blaming each other and come up with solutions to economic problems.
“The apartments rising — the prices are ridiculous — the homes are no longer affordable in the state of Florida,” she said. “That’s unacceptable, gas is out of control. But I’m smart enough to know that I’m not just going to blame one person, I know that it’s due to COVID. I’m absolutely fully aware that a lot of things happened to create the perfect storm.”
Voters from both parties said they want to send leaders to Washington who can work in a bipartisan fashion to solve problems.