District 10
Florida House District 10 encompasses all of Union, Bradford, Columbia and Baker counties. It also includes the northern half of Alachua County, with a small portion of the northernmost neighborhoods outside of Gainesville enveloped as well.
Republican candidate Chuck Brannan is the incumbent for this race. He has served as District 10 representative for six years since his election in 2018 and his re-election in 2020. His 2022 election was canceled because there was no one who opposed him. Brannan earned a UF bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He is a retired law enforcement officer after serving with the U.S. Marshals and the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
Democratic candidate Bobby Brady has not run for office before. He is a shiitake mushroom farmer who describes himself as a “conservative Democrat.” He cites protecting the Florida aquifer and regulating affordable insurance policies as some of his priorities, as well as supporting the passage of Amendment 4 and general abortion rights.
The Alligator sent a questionnaire to both candidates to allow them to speak about their policies in their own words. Neither responded.
District 22
District 22 includes Levy County, Gilchrist County and the southwestern portion of Alachua County, with a western section of Gainesville incorporated. The majority of UF campus is represented.
There is no incumbent candidate for this race, meaning a newcomer will earn the seat. Current District 22 Rep. Chuck Clemons has served since 2016. He can’t run again due to term limits.
Democratic candidate David Arreola was born in Gainesville and grew up there. He served two terms as Gainesville City Commissioner and then ran for mayor in 2022. After losing to the current mayor, Harvey Ward, Arreola continued to work for 21st Century Communications, which provides rural internet services. He has earned an associate’s degree from Santa Fe College, a bachelor’s degree from Flagler College and an MBA from St. Leo University.
Republican candidate Chad Johnson was born and raised in Alachua County. He has since moved to Levy County, where he served as Levy County Commissioner as a governor appointee in 2009 and then as an elected official from 2010 to 2014. He earned a UF bachelor’s degree in food and resource economics and became a professional auctioneer.
The Alligator sent a questionnaire to both candidates with the following questions to allow them to speak about their policies in their own words. Arreola answered during an interview, while Johnson answered via email.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
David Arreola: “Number one is going to be to protect women's health. The Florida abortion ban has severely limited pregnant women's options for healthcare… A second issue for me is property insurance. There's a lot of fraud going on in Florida right now, especially after the hurricanes, where property insurance companies are refusing to pay out for new roofs… I want to go up there and advocate for more consumer protections. I want to provide hurricane protections so that you cannot be dropped in the middle of a hurricane, you cannot be dropped just because you file a claim… The other issue for me is gun safety. Every time I say this, I get a little choked up that the number one cause of death for children in America is guns… if we were to have more training requirements and more licensing requirements, folks could get that training so they make less mistakes.”
Chad Johnson: “I will continue to advocate for agriculture and work to conserve our wildlife corridor and preserve farms and ranches which create jobs and contribute to our nation’s food supply and billions of dollars to our state’s economy. We must continue to improve Florida’s education system, expanding CTE opportunities, building on the Financial Literacy Act, enhancing STEM curriculum, inspiring parental involvement and protecting parental choice. Our continued population growth is creating a strain on current infrastructures, energy grids, transportation, schools and natural resources. Florida and its representatives will need to be forward focused to build solutions today for tomorrow’s problems.”
Why are you running?
David Arreola: “I’m running because I have been represented by people who hate Alachua County for years. The current representative and the previous representative in these seats, if you look at their rhetoric, if you look at the bills that they file, they file local bills to change the government here in Alachua County and in Gainesville, without holding local hearings… I don't think that's how state representatives should do their jobs. I think that state representatives are supposed to look after their local municipalities in a way of ‘How can we help you,’ not ‘How can we hurt you’ … I want to show people how we can do better in Alachua County.”
Chad Johnson: “I am the only candidate with family roots and ties to all three counties of District 22. I am the only candidate that has experience with fiscally constrained counties and the effects of unfunded mandates and blanket legislation. I have family, friends and business associates in all three counties of the district, with varying incomes, lifestyles and party affiliations. We did not enter because we have a personal political agenda, or desire for power, nor to lead District 22 where we think it needs to go, but to represent, so District 22 goes the direction its citizens want it to go.”
When it comes to regulating higher education in Florida, what is your approach?
David Arreola: “I'm a huge proponent of academic freedom. The state universities do not exist to push a political agenda. The state universities exist so that everyone can have access to a quality education that is rigorous in multi-disciplinary subjects, and one that is free of political interference… I think we need to pass anti-authoritarian bills that are going to protect professors' academic freedom that are not going to demonize certain groups of people… So I'm going to be a huge proponent of academic freedom, but also research and development in the University of Florida, because it is still one of the major research universities, and I think that we have to get back on that track and keep political interference out of our universities.”
Chad Johnson: “A graduate of both Santa Fe and the University of Florida, I look forward to the opportunity to represent our local institutions. Regulation of higher education by the legislature is limited; Article IX, Section 7 of the Florida Constitution was amended in 2002 to establish a statewide system of governance for all Florida public universities. I will work to ensure that these institutions are properly funded, and we are preparing our graduates for their prospective careers. We must ensure we have a secure pipeline of educated and trained individuals to enter the workforce and continue to fuel our state’s economy.”
What would you do to reduce the cost of living in Florida?
David Arreola: “The first thing we have to do is hold the bad actors accountable for the insurance fraud. It is severely affecting the market. 33 insurance companies have left the state of Florida, and the ones that are around while they are providing a certain amount of coverage, there needs to be investigations into the fraud that's going on because it's going to kill consumer confidence… The other thing that I would say for addressing the cost of living is really enforcing the increase in the minimum wage, but also looking at how we can invest in our infrastructure. This is an area where we can partner with local governments.”
Chad Johnson: “Continuing the work on reducing costs associated with insurance coverage. We need to work to create a marketplace that attracts more insurance companies back into the market to increase competition and drive down rates. Reducing regulations to promote increased housing inventories and options to affordable housing and building on the state’s Live Local Act will help reduce the cost associated with housing. Refining government spending, providing tax relief for citizens and improving efficiencies in government operations will help reduce the cost of living in Florida.”
Do you support the current six-week abortion law? If not, what would you change?
David Arreola: “I think that [abortion law] should be between women, their physician, their family and their faith, if they choose. I don't think, as a government official, I should be inserting myself in that decision-making process. There needs to be limited government interference… it's not about the weeks, it's not about the time, it's about, ‘Do you trust women to make the right decisions for themselves?’”
Chad Johnson: “I believe the discussion is at what point we are comfortable with ending the life of an unborn child. Pro-life should go beyond the 40 weeks of pregnancy. The best solution to reducing abortion numbers is reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies, which entails more education and better access to women’s healthcare, including increased availability of contraceptives and ECP (morning after pill). Next is genuine support (social and financial) for pregnant women, single moms, young or struggling families and a simpler, affordable path to adoption. I will challenge society, government, religious institutions, communities and individuals to improve support for mothers who choose life.”
If recreational marijuana is legalized via Amendment 3, how would you regulate it?
David Arreola: “I am less interested in legalizing marijuana. I am more interested in decriminalizing and de-carcerating folks who have been arrested, folks who are sitting in the county jail. This has been one of the great, unfortunate tragedies of our society. If you look at any statistics, especially here in Alachua County, there is a disproportionate amount of Black and brown neighbors who are being arrested… That's going to be my number one concern — to take care of people.”
Chad Johnson: “As an amendment to the constitution, there are only so many things the legislature can do to regulate the amendment to the constitution. I have no issue with medical marijuana and limited issue with private personal recreational marijuana, but I do not like this amendment and will not personally be voting to support it. I think we would be better served to establish rules and regulations for recreational marijuana through the legislature under our representative republic government as opposed to an amendment, which is more challenging to change, regulate and/or offset unintended consequences associated with the amendment.”
What, in your view, is the most critical issue your district is currently facing?
David Arreola: “The top issue is property insurance fraud, because we have hurricanes every year, sometimes really bad ones and people, for better or worse, their life investment is usually their home. And so home insurance is incredibly important to have so you can protect that investment. And if you have a state government that is actually working with the insurance companies to scam you out of what you have been paying your whole life, then we have a failure of the government, and it's time to change representation in the government so that we can hold those bad actors accountable…I want to go to Tallahassee to improve citizens’ insurance and make sure that we are providing a strong level of consumer confidence, that when they purchase a home insurance policy, that it's good for the term.”
Chad Johnson: “Statewide the most critical issues are inflation, insurance and immigration. For District 22, growth is definitely a critical issue. Alachua, Gilchrist and Levy Counties jointly can anticipate growth of more than 60,000 in the next 15 years, which is almost the current population of Gilchrist and Levy combined. Ensuring we can sustain our infrastructure through smart growth that does not negatively impact our social, economic and environmental balance is vital.”
The Alligator Editorial Board put together the candidates' answers in this article. You can reach them at editor@alligator.org.
