Alex Heeren
Alex Heeren (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Florida House of Representatives to represent District 66. Heeren lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Heeren completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2018. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 66
Nick DiCeglie defeated Alex Heeren in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 66 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Nick DiCeglie (R) | 56.8 | 42,759 |
 | Alex Heeren (D)  | 43.2 | 32,469 | |
| Total votes: 75,228 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 66
Alex Heeren advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 66 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Alex Heeren |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 66
Nick DiCeglie defeated Berny Jacques in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 66 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Nick DiCeglie | 59.5 | 10,461 |
 | Berny Jacques | 40.5 | 7,113 | |
| Total votes: 17,574 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Alex Heeren completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Heeren's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
My top legislative priority will be increasing funding for our public schools. When we don't give our schools enough money, our students, teachers, and communities all suffer the consequences. We also need to stop forcing local school districts to divert their limited resources to for-profit charter schools that aren't held to the same standards as our public schools. Investing in our public schools, especially those that are struggling, is one of the best ways to set students up for success after graduation, strengthen our communities, and improve our economy. My second priority when I'm elected will be to bring back local control to our local governments. Tallahassee has been systematically stripping our county and city governments of their ability to create rules that work for their residents. Legislators need to recognize that what works for Miami-Dade County isn't always going to work for Pinellas County, and give municipalities the ability to set local policy on issues related, but not limited, to environmental protection, short-term rentals, and gun safety. My third legislative priority will be protecting our environment. The state of Florida is facing major environmental problems right now, and the legislature isn't doing nearly enough to address them. Pollution of our waterways is out of control, and we need to hold the polluters accountable, force them to clean up our waters quickly, and change their operations to prevent future damage. We also need to make progress on issues like beach renourishment, clean energy policy, and preparing for rising sea levels.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
As an educator with Pinellas County Schools, public education is the area of public policy that I am most passionate about. The Florida Legislature is not doing nearly enough to fulfill its constitutional duty of providing a safe and quality schools that allows Florida's students to receive a high-quality education. This is a serious issue that will continue to have negative ramifications in our communities if we don't make meaningful changes. In addition to being passionate about the environment and local control as I mentioned in my previous answers, I care deeply about the state of our healthcare system in Florida. Florida has one of the lowest health insurance coverage rates in the nation, and I think that needs to change. When people have health insurance, they can see a primary care doctor and receive preventative care, which helps them stay healthy and recognize potentially serious health problems early. If we want a healthier Florida, we need to make sure that more people have health insurance and access to affordable, quality healthcare.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
The core responsibility for the person elected to the Florida House from District 66 is to understand and advocate for the people of the district -- plain and simple. Whoever is elected to this seat needs to listen to constituents, bring their concerns to Tallahassee, and try to find solutions to the issues they face in the district.
What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?
One of Florida's greatest challenges that it's currently facing and will continue to face over the next decade is how we deal with hurricanes and severe weather events. We're experiencing more frequent and more powerful storms, and those storms cause billions of dollars in damage. In the next few years, we'll need to upgrade our infrastructure to withstand the coming storms and create new plans to combat flooding and other hazards. We need to do this hard work now to protect our residents and our property in the future. Another challenge that Florida will have to deal with in the upcoming years is funding for our public schools. Florida ranks the among the lowest in country in overall spending on schools and per-student funding. The money that Florida does spend on schools is being diverted away from public schools to charter schools that are not held to the same standards and can be problematic for a variety of reasons. Many of our public schools are struggling throughout the state (some of them can't even afford to fix the air conditioning), and teachers, parents, and students are frustrated. There are some difficult conversations ahead about the direction of our education system in Florida, but I'm ready to have those conversations and fight for our public schools.
Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.
I believe it's extremely beneficial to build relationships with other legislators. Like in any working environment, it's important to have good relationships with your colleagues. This is especially important in the legislature where you need to work together with other legislators to get bills passed that will help the people you represent. I think it's important to work in a collaborative way to make things happen without compromising your values with the end goal of making a positive change in the state. I look forward to building relationships with my colleagues in the Florida House when I'm elected.
If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?
When I'm elected, I would like to be on the Education Committee. I really think the committee would benefit from having a teacher and an educator with classroom experience on it. I would also be interested in the Health & Human Services Committee because as I mentioned before, improving our healthcare system in Florida is really important to me. Finally, I would also like to be part of the Government Accountability Committee because that committee deals with the state's natural resources, transportation and infrastructure, and issues of transparency in government.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Florida House of Representatives elections, 2018
- Florida House of Representatives
External links
Footnotes
