Candidates tackle affordability, insurance and security in Florida Congressional District 25 primary

Voters in Florida's newly drawn Congressional District 25 will choose among seven candidates in the Aug. 18 primary, with affordability emerging as a central issue across both parties.

The district stretches from South Beach north to Delray Beach. Two Democrats and five Republicans are competing in their respective primaries for the seat.

Candidates have outlined priorities ranging from housing and health care costs to homeowners insurance, national security, immigration and government spending.

Democrats focus on affordability, health care and social programs

Jared Moskowitz said he plans to fight rising antisemitism and anti-immigrant sentiment while focusing on affordability. His priorities include restoring Affordable Care Act tax credits, lowering homeowners insurance costs and addressing the broader cost of living.

"You have to be able to afford your home, have affordable healthcare, and enjoy, enjoy your ability to live in society. And so, affordability by far, is issue 1, 2, and 3," Moskowitz said.

Oliver Larkin supports Medicare for All, universal child care, paid family and medical leave and the construction of more affordable housing. He aligns himself with Democratic socialist candidates and has emphasized reducing the influence of corporate political action committees.

"People see that when Democratic Socialists are rejecting the corrupting influence of corporate PAC donations and are fighting for bold universal programs that the majority of Americans agree with, these are popular platforms and people know that politics as they are today are broken, that both political parties have failed to deliver," Larkin said.

Republicans emphasize affordability, taxes, security and government spending

Five candidates are competing in the Republican primary, with several highlighting affordability while proposing different approaches to taxes, insurance, government spending and national security.

Scott Singer said he wants to cut regulations, bring jobs back to the United States and pursue insurance and tax reforms. He pointed to his record as mayor of Boca Raton and expressed support for President Donald Trump's tax policies.

"The Trump tax cuts were transformative to bringing more jobs here and putting more wealth back in the pockets of taxpayers. As Mayor of Boca Raton, I cut the tax rate 7 straight times to have the lowest property tax rate of any full service city in Florida," Singer said.

Dan Franzese is campaigning on what he calls his "Triple A" platform: affordability, accountability and America First. He also supports the SAVE America Act and said election security would be a priority in Congress.

"I completely support President Trump's advocacy of it. And if it hasn't already been passed by the time I get to Congress, that will be my top thing. I think we need to have it in order to give the American people confidence that we have secure elections," Franzese said.

Joe Kaufman is promoting what he calls his "SEA" program, focusing on security, economic prosperity and affordability. He has also made issues affecting seniors a priority, including protecting their benefits.

"I'm going to have their backs in Congress. I know that in their younger years they worked very hard for their benefits, every dime of it, and I'm going to fight for every dime of their benefits because I know that they need those in their latter years," Kaufman said.

George Moraitis said his priorities include national security, border enforcement, protecting individual freedoms and addressing affordability. On homeowners insurance, he has proposed creating a national windstorm pool to spread hurricane-related risk beyond Florida.

"We can also do a national windstorm pool to spread the risk like we do with the National Flood Program, spread the risk outside the state. You know, every state has a unique risk, in Florida it's hurricanes, in California it's earthquakes. In other parts of the country it's, it's tornadoes and different things," Moraitis said.

Raven Harrison said her priorities include restoring faith in government, reducing government spending, sovereignty and security and affordability. She also identified rising insurance costs as an issue she wants Congress to address.

"We have to attack the escalating insurance crisis that is going on, which is also related to the trickle down effect of not taking care of these items of not reining in our spending without being able to pass a balanced budget," Harrison said.