- November 17, 2024
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The final candidates for Florida’s Senate District 6 and House District 24 seats debated the environment, gun rights, the economy and more in a Flagler Votes forum at the Flagler Association of Realtors building Feb. 24.
It was the sole time all four candidates — Republican Paul Renner and Democrat Adam Morley, competing for the House District 24 seat, and Republican Travis Hutson and Democrat David Cox, facing off for the Senate District 6 seat — debated together in Flagler County.
Hutson is a second-term House member, Morley a former small business owner, Renner an attorney and Cox an administrator at Bethune-Cookman University.
The rival candidates had clear differences of opinion on major social and policy issues.
One question moderator Howard Holley asked to all four candidates concerned proposed legislation to let people with concealed-carry licenses to carry their firearms on state college and university campuses.
Morley said he was unafraid of firearms. “As a gun owner myself, I’m not afraid of them; I know plenty about them. They can be dangerous, but they can be a tool as well,” he said. “I support commonsense approaches to guns.” He did not say whether he supported the legislation or not. “That’s something I would have to see in the future,” he said.
His opponent, Renner, said he believed ”the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” He said if “responsible gun owners” at Florida State University had been allowed to carry their guns when a recent school shooting happened there, it might have ended sooner. “I’m a strong supporter not only of the Second Amendment, but that legislation specifically,” he said.
Senate candidate Hutson said he was a prime co-sponsor of the bill. “We’re talking about gun-free campuses right now — gun free campuses — and individuals are coming in creating these crimes,” he said. “When you have a concealed weapon, and you have a concealed carry, you can actually protect yourself.”
Cox said that as an educator he was “vehemently” against the legislation. “I think that guns have absolutely no place in schools,” he said. He said there had been a nonfatal shooting at his university the previous night that injured several people before it was stopped by security. If more students had been armed, he said, “That situation could have continued to escalate and become the OK Corral.”
In their closing comments, the men touched on issues they thought important: Renner talked about the importance off working across the aisle — citing education reform initiatives as an example — and of having people with real-life experience and leadership in government.
Morley spoke of the importance of stepping up and getting involved in politics. The last question the night asked to the Senate candidates from the prepared list asked if they considered economic development, job growth, and education as the top priorities for Flagler County, and asked them to suggest additional priorities.
Cox mentioned ensuring that social programs like Medicaid and Social Security remain secure, and said the state should accept federal money for the Affordable Care Act. “The program is in place. It’s here … we need to work on funding it. We need those federal funds to come into state,” he said. He also mentioned education, and said he supported the Florida Competitive Workforce Act —co-sponsored by Hutson — which would make it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in employment, housing and public accommodations.
Hutson mentioned beach restoration, water issues and transportation. “Beach restoration is very important. … We’ve got a road about to fall in; we’re about to lose everything there. So we’ve got to come up with some ideas, both locally, state and federal, on how we can solve that issue,” he said.
The special election will be held April 7. For audio of the forum, go to flaglerbroadcasting.com.
