With rising costs to insure a home, along with soaring gas and food prices, affordability is a top political issue not only across Florida but also in northern Seminole County, a mostly suburban middle-class area.
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It’s a key campaign topic for incumbent Rachel Plakon and her challenger Joshua Sorto, who are vying for the Republican nomination in state House District 36 race. The winner of the Aug. 18 primary will take on Democrat and attorney Darryl Block in the Nov. 3 general election.
Plakon was first elected in 2022 and now seeks her third term. She did not return several calls to talk about her campaign.
Sorto, a certified public accountant and Longwood resident, said the affordability crisis “has reached unacceptable levels. I feel more should be getting done in the state legislature to address that.”
Florida has among the highest homeowners’ insurance rates in the country, and many large national carriers have turned down writing policies in the state.
For example, Sorto said a national firm agreed to insure his car but turned down a policy for his 1967 home.
“The question is how do we address that issue [of] trying to get these carriers back into the state,” he said.
As many older homes may not withstand catastrophic weather events, he proposes the state help homeowners get their houses up to current building codes.
To slow rising food prices, Sorto proposes aid packages to farmers, mostly to help pay for the costs of replanting after last winter’s freezes. He also wants to help out-of-state farmers “bring their goods into the state.”
“I believe that at its most basic level, the costs of food are tied to supply issues,” he said.
Sorto also wants to regulate “dynamic pricing” — when businesses suddenly change prices in real time depending on consumer demand, a competitor’s prices or supplies — in relation to groceries.
“The airlines are at the forefront of that technology, so it’s only a matter of time before grocery stores start using it,” he said.
Sorto had a net worth of $133,745 as of Dec. 31, and earns $58,303 a year, according to recent campaign filings. Sorto has donated $3,000 to his campaign account and had not received any campaign contributions, according to the most recent July 17 filing with the state.
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On her campaign website, Plakon blames the rising grocery and gas prices during the Donald Trump administration “to the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration” and says “she understands that Floridians are having a hard time keeping up with rising prices.”
Plakon pledges to fight for tax cuts and inflation relief to help seniors and families. She also says she will create a “business-friendly environment where good-paying jobs can flourish.”
The web site does not offer any details on how she would tackle those proposals.
Plakon’s web site also states that she will strive to protect the voter-approved rural boundary, though she gives no specifics.
Development is allowed in the voter-approved rural boundary, but it’s limited to either one home per five acres or one home per 10 acres. A developer can request to remove a property from the boundary, but it would require four of the five county commissioners approving.
This year, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote an opinion that rural boundaries are unconstitutional because they deprive developers of wanting to get the most investment of their land holdings.
Following that opinion, an amendment was quietly slipped into a land-use bill during this year’s Legislative session that would’ve allowed property owners within or adjacent to rural boundaries, including Seminole’s, to seek compensation if the county didn’t approve removing development restrictions.
The proposal failed to pass in the Senate and was never voted on in the state House. But it’s likely to return in next year’s legislative session.
Sorto also said he would protect the rural boundary, but did not give specific details.
Plakon owns a real estate investment company and an investment firm, according to her website.
She reported a net worth of nearly $4.1 million, and an annual income of $79,466 from her investment company and legislative salary, according to campaign filings with the state.
As of July 17, Plakon had raised $94,630 in campaign contributions — including the maximum limit of $1,000 each from Allstate Insurance Co., Chevron, Realtors Political Action Committee and the Seminole Tribe of Florida — according to the most recent filing.
District 36 stretches across most of Seminole County from Lake County in the northwest to Volusia County in the east at Lake Harney and the St. John’s River. It includes the communities of Sanford, Lake Mary, the Black Hammock and Geneva, along with portions of Winter Springs and Longwood.