Kristen Carlson
Kristen Carlson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Florida's 15th Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Biography
Carlson is an attorney with experience in the private and public sector. She has worked as a prosecutor in Pasco County, general counsel for the Florida Department of Citrus, and chief counsel for the Florida Department of Transportation in Bartow. She has also served as a board member for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lakeland and the Polk Museum of Art.[1]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for U.S. House Florida District 15
Ross Spano defeated Kristen Carlson in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 15 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ross Spano (R) | 53.0 | 151,380 |
 | Kristen Carlson (D) | 47.0 | 134,132 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 20 | ||
| Total votes: 285,532 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 15
Kristen Carlson defeated Andrew Learned and Raymond Pena Jr. in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 15 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kristen Carlson | 53.4 | 24,498 |
 | Andrew Learned | 31.6 | 14,509 | |
 | Raymond Pena Jr. | 15.1 | 6,912 | |
| Total votes: 45,919 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- James Gregory Pilkington (D)
- Jeffrey Rabinowitz (D)
- Greg Williams (D)
- Cameron Magnuson (D)
- Phil Hornback (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 15
Ross Spano defeated Neil Combee, Sean Harper, Danny Kushmer, and Ed Shoemaker in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 15 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ross Spano | 44.1 | 26,904 |
 | Neil Combee | 33.8 | 20,590 | |
 | Sean Harper | 9.9 | 6,018 | |
 | Danny Kushmer | 6.7 | 4,067 | |
 | Ed Shoemaker | 5.5 | 3,379 | |
| Total votes: 60,958 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Curt Rogers (R)
Campaign themes
2018
| “ |
Agriculture Having a safe and affordable food supply is important to every American. Agriculture is critical to our state’s economy and jobs. As the former General Counsel of the Florida Department of Citrus and my career as a food lawyer, I have worked to support and protect our state’s agriculture from illegal and unfair practices that harm producers and consumers. In Congress, I’ll continue to fight for our local farmers, ranchers, growers and farm workers to ensure we remain globally competitive. Specifically, I’ll ensure that our local agriculture concerns are addressed in the Farm bill, we get funding for important disease and pest research, our farm products get access to foreign markets and our our jobs and safe food supply are protected. Additionally, I’ll also work to ensure that the Federal government aggressively enforces existing agricultural trade laws, rigorously investigates industries that “dump” products to undermine our local producers, and ensure that agricultural labor is protected. Environment Clean air and clean water are critical to Florida’s economy and the health of every citizen. Climate change is real, and it’s having a real impact on Florida. Rising sea levels and hurricanes are destructive to our economy, safety, and way of life. Those who deny climate change and seek to make it a partisan issue are presenting a false choice between economic growth and protecting our environment. The fact is, there are enormous economic benefits to ending our addiction to fossil fuels and transitioning to alternative energy sources. Healthcare All Floridians deserve access to affordable and quality health care. The Affordable Care Act was a step in the right direction, and the efforts in Congress to first repeal and sabotage is just partisan politics and it’s hurting Florida. Donald Trump’s repeal bill would have been a disaster for Florida. We can’t allow insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions and charge older Americans five times more. As a type 1 (juvenile) diabetic, I understand what it means to be “uninsurable”. After Congress and President Trump failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they have resorted to sabotaging it through executive orders and changes buried in the new tax law. As a result, premiums on Florida’s health care exchange will be increasing dramatically next year. According to one study, a 40-year-old in Florida will be paying $1,000 more. Instead of these partisan tactics, we should be looking to fix the problems with the Affordable Care Act, and work to bring down costs for Americans. Three commonsense proposals include allowing those age 55 and older to buy into Medicare, allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices like the VA does, and allowing for a public option. Immigration Reform With the Trump administration’s latest attack on immigrants, it’s well past time to pass comprehensive immigration reform that strengthens our border while providing a path to citizenship for hard-working undocumented immigrants who pay taxes and contribute to our economy. What’s happening today is unconscionable. Separating children from their parents. Sending young people brought here through no fault of their own, many of them who only ever knew this country as home, back to places where they haven’t been since they were infants. Arresting and deporting hard-working immigrants who’ve committed no crimes to countries in which their lives are in danger. We can secure our border while ensuring that law-abiding undocumented immigrants receive a legal status that allows them to be able to live, work, study and continue to contribute to society. Jobs and Economy First for me is giving people a fair chance and rebuilding the middle class. To do this we need to focus on the basics – a top-notch public education for our kids to give them the technical skills for high wages jobs. District 15, situated between Tampa and Orlando, is poised for its own breakout moment. I will work hard to bring better transportation options to the I-4 corridor as well as high wage jobs that complement the existing business, such as logistics and supply change management. District 15 needs to make way for future industry. Our businesses and children can prosper from green energy companies. I will work every day to make this happen. National Security As the mother of a Marine veteran and daughter of an Air Force pilot and Army Nurse, nothing is more important to me than keeping our country safe. Today, we face nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, and we must do everything possible to end these threats including a strong military presence in the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East, further development of our layered missile defense system, and a fully staffed state department. Furthermore, we must remain diligent in our mission to destroy ISIS and provide local law enforcement the tools they need to stop terrorism on American soil. Preventing Gun Violence It is absolutely horrifying that we have allowed partisan politics and the interests of the gun lobby to come before our children’s lives. We are better than this. I support the Second Amendment. And I believe that law-abiding citizens should not be denied the right to own a firearm. Congress, though, has a responsibility to act. We need to pass universal background checks, a ban on bump-stocks, which allow individuals to convert firearms into fully automatic weapons, and a ban on high capacity magazines and military-style assault weapons that are designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest period of time. Reforming Washington Washington is broken with hyper-partisanship and it isn’t looking out for the interests of Central Florida families. Washington is not putting the interests of the country first. It’s time we hold Washington accountable, cut the waste and get big money out of politics. We must demand that Washington spends taxpayer dollars responsibly and not on themselves. Congress and government officials shouldn’t be allowed to “live large” on the taxpayers’ dime. As your Congresswoman, I’ll decline the perks of Congress and support legislation that bans government officials from taking private jets, first-class flights, spending extravagantly on personal office renovations, and end the practice of using taxpayer dollars to pay sexual harassment settlements. We also need to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United which has enabled special interests and billionaires, like the Koch brothers, to upend our democracy. Retirement Security We must do more to protect the retirement of Florida families. Americans pay in and work hard to earn their Social Security and Medicare benefits and I will strongly oppose any attempts to privatize or cut these vital programs. Additionally, we need to do more to protect the personal retirement savings of Florida retirees. We need to bring back the “Best Interest Rule” that required financial advisors to act in the best interest of their clients, not whatever makes their firms the most money. Tax Reform I support fiscally responsible middle-class tax cuts. Unfortunately, the new tax law is short-sighted with a windfall for those at the very top. When the law is fully phased in, middle-class Americans will pay more, while the top 1% get 83% of the benefits. Just as alarming, the new law adds $1.5 trillion in debt, and Congress is talking about cutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for it. That is simply unacceptable. Veterans As the daughter of two veterans, sister to two, and mother of one, I know the sacrifices the men and women serving our country make every day. We owe it to them to provide them with the best medical care, access to education, job training, and other support they need and deserve. But instead of working to reform the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), President Trump and Republicans in Congress continue to play politics while our veterans still wait weeks and even months to get the care they need. I stand with veteran organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and American Legion, in calling for reforms while opposing any attempts to privatize or otherwise cut the services our veterans need and have earned. Women's Reproductive Rights I’ve been pro-choice my entire life and I will stand up to the continued attempts by Republicans in Congress to curtail a woman’s right to choose. Choice means that no politician should be allowed to get between a woman and her doctor. I’ll also fight to stop partisan efforts to defund women’s health care service providers like Planned Parenthood that provide essential preventative care like cancer screenings and birth control.[2] |
” |
| —Carlson for Congress[3] | ||
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Florida's 15th Congressional District election, 2018
- Florida's 15th Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Kristen Carlson for Congress, "About," accessed August 17, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Krisen Carlson for Congress, "Issues," accessed August 19, 2018
