District 10 congressional candidates debate immigration, abortion and other key issues

The candidates for Central Florida’s congressional District 10 argued about marijuana, immigration, abortion and other issues in a pitch to represent their party in November’s general election during a televised forum that aired Thursday night.

District 10 includes much of central and eastern Orange County including Orlando, Winter Park and Maitland. It is currently represented by first-term Democratic incumbent Maxwell Frost, who made national headlines in 2022 as the first member of Gen Z elected to Congress.

Frost beat his Republican rival Calvin Wimbish by 20 percentage points. Currently, the district’s registered voters are 44% Democrat, 24% Republican and 29% non-party affiliated.

Frost will face two Democratic challengers, Wade Darius and Vibert White, in the Aug. 20 primary election. Tuan Le and Willie Montague are seeking the GOP nomination.

Darius did not attend the forum, but other nominees voiced their opinions on a host of topics.

The Democratic candidates said the United States needs better policies to govern its southern border and to protect asylum seekers.

“One of the first things that needs to be done is to follow existing laws that are already on the books to secure our border,” White said. “Secondly, we have to understand that we are not an open-door policy any longer, that we cannot afford it. We have other people within the United States who need the resources that can be utilized in their own communities.”

Frost argued that improving the asylum process would curtail many of the problems seen at the border today.

“What we have to understand is we don’t have open borders,” he said. “We do have a legal system of asylum, which is a legal right for people to claim asylum. So what we need to do is pass legislation to get more asylum attorneys, judges, more personnel down there so this process can be sped up.”

Republican candidates, however, argued that the border is open and needs to be closed so the country can address its domestic issues.

“Securing the border is not about immigrants,” Le said. “It’s about stopping criminals and having human trafficking drop.”

Montague said the border is open and called immigration “an illegal issue” that must be solved.

“We need to secure the border, we need to close it off, and we need to make sure we have our officers there that are able to make sure that no one crosses over here until we get a better process,” he said.

Two amendments that will be on Florida’s ballot in November will allow voters to decide on legalizing marijuana usage for adults over 21 and protecting abortion rights.

Republican candidates Le and Montague said they do not support legalizing marijuana through Amendment 3, though Montague stated he is in favor of decriminalization.

“It becomes that gateway and then it leads to something else,” Montague said of marijuana. “My brother spent seven years in prison because it started with marijuana to appeals to heroin because it became wanting more of a high.”

Democratic candidates Frost and White disagreed, saying they want Amendment 3 to pass and to go a step further and have the records of individuals imprisoned on marijuana charges expunged.

“The point is, marijuana should be legalized,” White said. “Secondly, individuals who are in jail right now at the federal and state level and county level should be released immediately. if they’re there because of selling or smoking marijuana. It’s a benign drug at this stage.”

Both White and Frost said they support Amendment 4, which would overturn Florida’s current six-week ban on abortion and make the procedure legal until fetus viability, usually about 24 weeks.

“I support amendment 4 but not just that: Congress needs to codify Roe v. Wade, codify abortion rights for women and childbearing adults across the country,” Frost said.

Le and Montague both acknowledged the issue is in the hands of the voters but voiced their opposition to the abortion measure.

“Personally, I don’t agree with abortion because I love children,” Le said. “I love kids and I have them, I’m going to have a fourth kid coming soon too.”

Montague said he is “absolutely a no” on the abortion amendment. “I believe absolutely 100% in pro-life and that we need to protect our children and the unborn all the way from the womb to the tomb,” he said.

Thursday’s forum was moderated and sponsored by the Orlando Sentinel, Spectrum News 13 and AARP Florida and held at the News 13 studios in Orlando.