With 2 weeks to election, Democratic PAC drops $11.8 million in Florida House attack ads

The Democratic PAC Forward Majority is spending $11.8 million for English and Spanish-language healthcare ads to run in 22 competitive seats for the Florida House.

The ads attack Republican incumbents over legislation they voted for in 2019 that Republicans said at the time was intended to keep insurance coverage of people with preexisting conditions but, the group says, has led to higher healthcare costs for patients.

Behind the multimillion-dollar campaign to flip the Florida House is a push from Forward Majority to remove Republicans from office who they say weakened the state’s Amendment 4 ballot initiative that was designed to restore voting rights to most felons.

The ad buy, announced Tuesday, will focus on South Florida TV markets in House Districts 105, 110, 115 and 118 in Miami-Dade County. The group is also putting up ads for races in other counties: House Districts 83 and 93, where Republicans are defending seats in Broward, Martin and St. Lucie counties.

One of the ads attacks Florida GOP Reps. Vance Aloupis and Anthony Rodriguez, both from Miami-Dade, for “denying protections to families over preexisting conditions” — a reference to their votes for the bill in 2019.

Though Republicans said the bill would help patients retain coverage even with preexisting conditions in case the Affordable Care Act was repealed at the federal level, Democrats argued at the time that the bill did not go far enough to protect patients with preexisting conditions from being denied coverage by so-called “junk” health insurance plans.

“Vance Aloupis and Anthony Rodriguez have a dangerous record in Tallahassee,” says the ad, called “Record.” It goes on to endorse their Democratic opponents: Franccesca Cesti-Browne, running against Aloupis, and Ricky Junquera, running against Rodriguez. Both districts are in Northwest Miami-Dade.

Rodriguez, in an interview this month, said the bill in 2019 was a “proactive” effort to require insurance companies to cover patients with preexisting conditions. He noted that he had a preexisting condition himself and that it would be “hypocritical” for him to vote against it.

Aloupis added Tuesday that the attacks were “baseless,” and said the ads were “a new political low.” The bill, he said, “explicitly prohibits ‘insurers from excluding, limiting, denying, or delaying coverage under such policy due to preexisting medical conditions.’”

The ad campaign, announced just two weeks before Election Day, is part of a national program from Forward Majority aimed at battleground states like Florida, Arizona and Texas, Politico reported.

Forward Majority and other national progressive groups like Sister District have pledged on-the-ground resources to support down-ballot candidates challenging Republican incumbents in Florida.

Democrats would need to pick up an additional 14 seats to gain parity in the 120-member Florida House.

Ben Wexler-Waite, communications director for Forward Majority, said the ads — though they focus on healthcare — are aimed at lawmakers who they say undermined Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018. The Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis sought to weaken the initiative by requiring felons to pay all legal fines and fees before their voting rights can be restored.

“This is just the latest instance of voter suppression in this preeminent battleground state; someone needs to hold these entrenched politicians accountable for trying to turn over a million voters away from the polls in one of the most important battleground states in the nation,” said Wexler-Waite.

Another ad from Forward Majority targets District 105 — which includes parts of Broward, Miami-Dade and Collier counties — and District 110, vacated by term-limited former House Speaker José Oliva.

The ad accuses the District 105 candidate — Sweetwater commissioner David Borrero — and the District 110 candidate, education consultant Alex Rizo, of “threatening our health insurance.”

The ad endorses the Democrats running in those districts: immigration attorney Maureen Porras in 105 and teacher Annette Collazo in 110.

Rizo called the ads “misleading,” since he has never taken an official stance on whether insurers should be required to cover patients with preexisting conditions.

The ads are airing just as two congressional Republicans candidates in Miami, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and former TV journalist María Elvira Salazar, have distanced themselves from proposals made by other Republican lawmakers to undo the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, without an alternative.

Rizo and Borrero have both touted their commitment to finding affordable healthcare solutions through the free market. Rizo would like to see groups that aren’t employers, like homeowners’ associations, allowed to purchase group health insurance plans. Both candidates have suggested allowing Floridians to purchase insurance across state lines, or creating programs where more prescription drugs can be purchased directly from manufacturers or from other countries.

“Here’s the problem with individuals who think everything can be free: Not everything can be free because someone has to pay for it. It’s wishful thinking,” Borrero said. “It sounds nice to the consumer, but you ask who is going to pay for it, there’s no answer.”

This story has been updated to reflect new information.

Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times bureau reporter Ana Ceballos contributed to this story.