Ben Diamond
Ben Diamond (Democratic Party) was a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 68. He assumed office on November 8, 2016. He left office on November 8, 2022.
Diamond (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Florida's 13th Congressional District. He did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on August 23, 2022.
Diamond also ran for re-election to the Florida House of Representatives to represent District 68. He did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on August 23, 2022.
Biography
Ben Diamond was born and raised in Pinellas County, Florida. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale University and his law degree at the University of Florida Levin College of Law where he served as Editor-In-Chief of the Florida Law Review.[1]
After graduation, Diamond clerked for a federal appeals court judge and later joined the administration of Florida’s chief financial officer Alex Sink in Tallahassee. Diamond has served as general counsel for Florida’s chief financial officer and the Florida Department of Financial Services. He has also practiced law in downtown St. Petersburg.[1]
Committee assignments
2021-2022
Diamond was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Diamond was assigned to the following committees:
- House Budget Committee
- House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Ranking Member
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Florida committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Judiciary |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
State house
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 68
Incumbent Lawrence McClure defeated Lorissa Wright in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 68 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Lawrence McClure (R) | 68.3 | 40,512 |
 | Lorissa Wright (D)  | 31.7 | 18,831 | |
| Total votes: 59,343 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Lorissa Wright advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 68.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Ben Diamond (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 68
Incumbent Lawrence McClure defeated Paul Hatfield in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 68 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lawrence McClure | 80.2 | 12,434 |
| Paul Hatfield | 19.8 | 3,061 | ||
| Total votes: 15,495 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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U.S. House
See also: Florida's 13th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Florida District 13
Anna Paulina Luna defeated Eric Lynn, Frank Craft, Dwight Young, and Jacob Curnow in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 13 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Anna Paulina Luna (R) | 53.1 | 181,487 |
 | Eric Lynn (D) | 45.1 | 153,876 | |
 | Frank Craft (L) | 1.8 | 6,163 | |
 | Dwight Young (No Party Affiliation) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 17 | |
 | Jacob Curnow (No Party Affiliation) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 3 | |
| Total votes: 341,546 | |||
| = 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
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Eric Lynn advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 13.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 13
Anna Paulina Luna defeated Kevin Hayslett, Amanda Makki, Christine Quinn, and Moneer Kheireddine in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 13 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Anna Paulina Luna | 44.5 | 37,156 |
 | Kevin Hayslett | 33.6 | 28,108 | |
 | Amanda Makki | 17.0 | 14,159 | |
 | Christine Quinn | 3.0 | 2,510 | |
 | Moneer Kheireddine | 1.9 | 1,599 | |
| Total votes: 83,532 | |||
| = 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Audrey Henson (R)
- Will Braddock (R)
- Christian Boston (R)
- Jim Davis (R)
Libertarian primary election
The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Frank Craft advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Florida District 13.
2020
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 68
Incumbent Ben Diamond defeated Matt Tito in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 68 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ben Diamond (D) | 53.8 | 49,905 |
 | Matt Tito (R) | 46.2 | 42,785 | |
| Total votes: 92,690 | |||
| = 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
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Ben Diamond advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 68.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Matt Tito advanced from the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 68.
2018
General election
The general election was canceled. Incumbent Ben Diamond won election in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 68.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 68
Incumbent Ben Diamond advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 68 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Diamond |
| ||||
| = 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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2016
| Obama endorsement |
|---|
|
| During the 2016 election cycle Diamond was one of the candidates endorsed by President Barack Obama |
Full list of Obama's 2016 endorsements |
Elections for the Florida House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 30, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 24, 2016.
Ben Diamond defeated Joseph Bensmihen in the Florida House of Representatives District 68 general election.[2][3]
| Florida House of Representatives, District 68 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Ben Diamond |
55.91% | 42,339 | |
| Republican | Joseph Bensmihen | 44.09% | 33,393 | |
| Total Votes | 75,732 | |||
| Source: Florida Division of Elections | ||||
Ben Diamond defeated Eric Lynn in the Florida House of Representatives District 68 Democratic primary.[4][5]
| Florida House of Representatives, District 68 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Ben Diamond |
54.20% | 6,441 | |
| Democratic | Eric Lynn | 45.80% | 5,443 | |
| Total Votes | 11,884 | |||
Joseph Bensmihen ran unopposed in the Florida House of Representatives District 68 Republican primary.[4][5]
| Florida House of Representatives, District 68 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Joseph Bensmihen (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2022
State house
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ben Diamond did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
U.S. House
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ben Diamond did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Ben Diamond did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Diamond's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[6]
A Commitment to Better Public Education
- Excerpt: "We need to make a real commitment to improving our traditional public schools in Florida. We must end the high stakes testing, and stop diverting money from public schools to for-profit charter schools that lack accountability to taxpayers."
Protecting Florida's Environment
- Excerpt: "We need a new energy policy in Florida to promote solar and renewable energy, and energy efficiency. We need to take better care of our beautiful state, and preserve Florida for future generations."
Real Leadership on Transportation
- Excerpt: "Tampa Bay is becoming gridlocked, and unless we act quickly to change course in our transportation planning in Florida, the economy in our region and our state will suffer."
Expanding Access to Healthcare
- Excerpt: "Everyone in Florida should be able to access affordable healthcare for themselves and their families. I think it is disgraceful that the Florida legislature has not yet expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act."
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Florida scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2022
In 2022, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 11 to March 14.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators were scored based on their votes on health care, the economy, public schools, affordable housing, clean energy and water, reproductive rights, the freedom to vote and more.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Florida State Legislature was in session from March 2 to April 30.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 14 to March 19.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Florida State Legislature was in session from March 5 through May 3.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 9 through March 11.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Florida State Legislature was in session from March 7 through May 8. There was also a special session from June 7 to June 9.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 12 through March 11.
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate U.S. House Florida District 13 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Vote Ben Diamond, "Meet Ben," accessed December 12, 2019
- ↑ Florida Department of State, "Candidate listing for 2016 general election," accessed September 12, 2016
- ↑ Florida Division of Elections, "November 8, 2016 Official Election Results," accessed November 23, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Florida Department of State, "Candidates and Races," accessed July 1, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Florida Division of Elections, "August 30, 2016 Official Election Results," accessed September 22, 2016
- ↑ Vote for Ben Diamond, "Issues," accessed September 28, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dwight Dudley (D) |
Florida House of Representatives District 68 2016-2022 |
Succeeded by Lawrence McClure (R) |
