Candidates in closely watched state Senate District 39 race spar over community ties

Democratic candidates for Florida’s closely watched Senate District 39 faced off in a virtual forum Thursday night, as the Democrats’ chosen favorite and his primary challenger tackled issues ranging from transportation to Black Lives Matter.

Florida Rep. Javier Fernández and Daniel Horton-Diaz are vying to replace the term-limited Republican incumbent, Anitere Flores. Whoever wins the Aug. 18 Democratic primary will compete with Republican opponent Rep. Ana Maria Rodriguez for the seat.

During the forum, Fernández drew on his Tallahassee experience to court voters, referring often to legislation he backed, and promising that he’s been a “proud advocate” for Miami voters in the House.

Meanwhile, Horton-Diaz, who is challenging Fernández on his roots in the district, pointed to his grassroots relationships in community activism, and distanced himself from established politicians. He noted that he carries a “level of empathy ... we don’t often find in our legislators.”

Fernández does not currently live in District 39.

According to Florida’s residency requirements, candidates for state Senate must live in their district upon their election. Fernández said he would move to the district and forgo his current homestead exemption to comply with state requirements.

Senate District 39 represents one of the party’s most important and winnable races on the ballot as Democrats try to achieve parity in the Senate for the first time in 20 years. The district,which includes South Miami-Dade and all of Monroe County, was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Democratic Party leaders have thrown their full support behind Fernández, and they say the party’s priority continues to be ensuring he wins the seat, which they consider “flippable.” And it’s part of a strategy to gain the three seats they need to reach an even split in Florida’s 40-member Senate. Half of Florida’s Senate seats are up for reelection in November.

Horton-Diaz says he is challenging Fernández in the primary because he believes he is the most qualified candidate who understands the voters in his district.

Coming from a working-class background, Horton-Diaz — a lawyer — says he understands the financial issues afflicting his community. He said his top priority, if he is elected, is to address the state’s unemployment system that has been plagued by dysfunction throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

“The way that the unemployment system was sabotaged back in 2010 or 2011, I think that that has had a very severe impact on my district,” he said, adding that he supports a focus on contact tracing to curb COVID-19 spread.

Having already served in the Legislature, Fernández says he is running to continue the work he already started in pushing for tax credits for working families, Medicaid expansion and more loan programs for small businesses. COVID-19 has shined a spotlight on those issues, he said.

“The disparities that have existed are all the more evident now,” he told the Miami Herald. “It’s really a tale of two states.”

But Horton-Diaz is no newbie in Florida politics. He worked as a legislative aide for Florida Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Florida state director for the voting rights organization All Voting is Local, and served as a congressional district chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

Last month, however, Mucarsel-Powell endorsed his opponent, Fernández.

Democrats flipped five South Florida seats in the past decade, which puts even more focus on SD 39 and the question of whether Democrats can prove they can outwork their well-funded opponents.

The Florida Democratic Party and political committees like Senate Victory, the fundraising arm of the Senate Democrats, are putting the vast majority of their efforts into South Florida, particularly on Fernández’s race.

Democrats say Fernández, a Cuban American, has the financial backing of labor unions for the race. Some sources estimate that over the course of the cycle, Democrats and allies will pour $6 million or more into backing Fernández.

The party has been behind the representative’s attempted jump from the House to the Senate since he announced his run in August 2019. Since then, he has raised $230,356 to Horton-Diaz’s $17,119.

This is Horton-Diaz’s second run for District 39, which he forfeited in 2016 to instead join the race for House District 120 that includes parts of Homestead and the Florida Keys. He won the Democratic primary but lost in the general election to Republican Rep. Holly Raschein.

“I know this community. I’ve dedicated myself to this community,” said Horton-Diaz, who is originally from Tunnel Hill, Georgia, before moving to South Florida in 2011. “Your average person in this district has to overcome a lot. These are all things that I’ve experienced myself.”

Fernández, however, has repeatedly said he’s “running a general race.” While he has lived in the district for 16 years to Horton-Diaz’s four, Fernández does not currently live in SD 39.

Horton-Diaz has said Fernández has no “tangible connection” to the district they are both running for, despite his top-level endorsements. On his end, Fernández says his experiences are “the experiences of people in the district.”

“I think he’s a great addition to the community,” he said. “But to call me the outsider is really laughable. I am not trying to be someone I’m not.”