Decision 2022

• PODCAST: Calvin Wimbish goes Beyond The Soundbite


• PODCAST: Maxwell Frost goes Beyond The Soundbite


• FAQ: How to vote in Florida


• Everything to know about voting by mail in Florida

The debate lasted for 30 minutes, with each candidate getting one minute to respond to a direct question and 30 seconds for a rebuttal. Each candidate also got an additional minute for their closing arguments. 

When asked about arming teachers in schools, Wimbish responded by saying: "There needs to be support to the security officers that are on campus. Teachers who are qualified and have been certified should be able to help those police officers. We've seen the violence increase without that support."

Frost's response to the same question was: "I am not for arming teachers in schools and teachers unions and teachers themselves don't want that responsibility. Our teachers are already underpaid they don't have the resources they need to teach their classes now we want to talk about arming them and putting the security of students in their hands like that? I think it's far too much."

The first issue debated is fresh on the minds of many in Central Florida in the wake of Hurricane Ian. The candidates spoke about the role of the federal government in addressing Florida's property insurance crisis and skyrocketing premiums.

"When we see what happened in the Florida state Legislature over the past few months, and especially the special session that was called for insurance, they did nothing on it because of Gov. Ron DeSantis and his work to help scapegoat vulnerable communities due to his failures, and so when the state doesn’t step in the federal government does need to," Frost said.

Wimbish retorted that, "Ron DeSantis did all he could prior to and throughout the Hurricane Ian to make sure that the funding that needed to go to the most devastated areas like Fort Myers, where I used to be down there as a school teacher, that devastation was taken down — what we have to do is make sure that when we allocate funds from the federal government we just cannot add more side reasons for using money that is not insured for the people."

The candidates are making their case to voters in a district that changed after redistricting. District 10 leans Democratic and now includes Orange County roughly east of Apopka-Vineland, downtown Orlando, Eatonville, Winter Park, Maitland, the University of Central Florida area, and Bithlo.

Two NPA candidates will be on the ballot for District 10, but they did not reach the fundraising threshold set to participate in this debate.

More about the candidates: 

Maxwell Frost

Frost emerged victorious from the Aug. 23 Democratic primary with 34% of the vote. He defeated nine other challengers, including former congressman Alan Grayson. Since then, he’s enjoyed national attention, largely due to his young age — he’s currently 25 years old, and if elected, he’ll be the first member of Generation Z to serve in the nation's legislature. 

As for his messaging, he’s focusing on being a survivor and advocate. He was a national leader in the effort to reduce gun violence. He also worked with the ACLU to restore voting rights to Floridians with prior felony convictions. 

“There’s a lot that I want to work on, whether it’s working in a bipartisan way to ending gun violence, appropriating money to communities, ensuring that we are doing everything we can to bring down rising costs, including the cost of rent,” he told Spectrum News during a podcast last month. 

He also said that he was looking forward to “a real exchange of ideas in this campaign.” 

According to Open Secrets, Frost has raised $1,163,431 across over 36,000 individual donations on ActBlue, the left-leaning fundraising service alone. He’s also received a number of payments from political action committees that bring his total fundraising numbers for 2022 to $1,509,653. 

Calvin Wimbish

Wimbish won his primary in August by a decidedly higher margin, although he earned a lower total of votes. He earned 44.6% of the vote and turned away five other challengers. He hasn’t held office before, but he is a retired colonel in the Green Berets. Wimbish also served as a senior Army instructor for Seminole County School’s JROTC program. 

The retired colonel’s messaging relies on his military experience, where he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to his experience, Wimbish’s website also shares his experience as a “dedicated husband and father,” an “experienced leader,” an “experienced educator” and an “unapologetic Christian.” 

“I want people to recognize that this is really about good versus evil, right versus wrong. We are all feeling the pain with no gain, as to where we are today,” Wimbish told Spectrum News during a podcast last month about the November election. 

He also mentioned his opponent’s youth during the interview. “What has he been able to do? Has he managed people, resources, has he had time? Has he had the exposure to learning from others? Has he gone into harm’s way?”

Open Secrets reports that Wimbish has raised $199,679 as of September 30, and he reported $16,252 in cash reserves. The majority of donations for the Colonel came from retired people, or those working in real estate.

Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings won the race for District 10 in 2020 with 63.6% of the vote. She first took office in 2016, beating Republican Thuy Lowe with 35.1% of the vote. She’s currently running for the Senate against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

It should be noted that District 10 was changed dramatically after the 2020 census and redistricting process. 

Before the district was changed, It consisted mostly of West Orlando, going North into Apopka and south into Lake Buena Vista territory. It also included the Dr. Phillips and Windermere neighborhoods. Now, the map includes parts of West Orlando to Gotha, East Orlando, but most of South Orlando was cut off.