Kristen Rosen Gonzalez
Kristen Rosen Gonzalez (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Florida's 27th Congressional District. She lost in the Democratic primary on August 28, 2018.
Biography
Before being elected as a Miami Beach commissioner, Gonzalez worked as a professor at Miami Dade College, a high school teacher, and an internet journalist. She received her bachelor's degree from Tufts University and her master's degree from the University of Barry.[1]-->
Elections
2018
General election
General election for U.S. House Florida District 27
Donna Shalala defeated Maria Elvira Salazar and Mayra Joli in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 27 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Donna Shalala (D) | 51.8 | 130,743 |
 | Maria Elvira Salazar (R) | 45.8 | 115,588 | |
 | Mayra Joli (No Party Affiliation) | 2.5 | 6,255 | |
| Total votes: 252,586 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Cassandra Anna Hefton (No Party Affiliation)
- Ian Hamilton Trottier (No Party Affiliation)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 27
Donna Shalala defeated David Richardson, Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, Matt Haggman, and Michael Hepburn in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 27 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Donna Shalala | 31.9 | 14,158 |
 | David Richardson | 27.5 | 12,192 | |
 | Kristen Rosen Gonzalez | 17.5 | 7,783 | |
 | Matt Haggman | 16.9 | 7,511 | |
 | Michael Hepburn | 6.1 | 2,723 | |
| Total votes: 44,367 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mary Barzee Flores (D)
- Jose Javier Rodriguez (D)
- Ken Russell (D)
- Marvin Dunn (D)
- Mark Anthony Person (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 27
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 27 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Maria Elvira Salazar | 40.5 | 15,817 |
 | Bruno Barreiro | 25.7 | 10,029 | |
 | Maria Peiro | 8.0 | 3,121 | |
 | Stephen Marks | 7.0 | 2,733 | |
| Angie Chirino | 6.9 | 2,678 | ||
 | Bettina Rodriguez-Aguilera | 4.3 | 1,684 | |
 | Michael Ohevzion | 3.8 | 1,467 | |
| Elizabeth Adadi | 2.0 | 775 | ||
 | Gina Sosa-Suarez | 1.9 | 760 | |
| Total votes: 39,064 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Gabe Ferrer (R)
Campaign themes
2018
Rosen Gonzalez’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Gun Control Background checks and a ban on assault weapons. Push for an excise tax on bullets that would fund security in our schools. Schools needing police officers, mental health counselors, panic button systems for teachers, and metal detectors. An educational component so students learn about gun safety from a very young age, and a national gun buy-back program to get guns off the streets. Kristen would like to see a day when taking National Rifle Association (NRA) money is a stain on any politician running for election. Medicare for All Right now, more than 46 million Americans are without health care in the richest county in the world. Instead of focusing on patients and doctors, our health care system priorities special interests. The insurance industry, hospital systems, medical device companies and big pharmaceuticals make more than $3 trillion per year because Congress allows it. We can change that. We will improve and lower insurance prices in our current system while we transition to Medicare for All that will provide health care for all Americans citizens. No one should suffer because they can’t afford access to healthcare. When you invest in people, the return is tremendous. Climate Change Climate change is real and mankind is causing it. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century to today, about 200 years, we have burned carbon in the form of oil, gas, and coal that Nature took billions of years to lock away. The planet’s temperature is rising. More carbon in our atmosphere also means that our oceans are becoming more acidic. That threatens our coral reefs, the foundation of our ocean’s food chain. Once the reefs die, the oceans will not be far behind. But it is not too late. We need a 21st Century Manhattan Project to hurry the development of green, renewable energy sources. And we need to step research to make carbon remediation quick and affordable. Investing in clean and renewable energy, including wind, solar, tidal, and hydrogen fuel cell technology, will have the added benefit of reducing our dependence on foreign oil and the threats, both explicit and implicit from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel and Russia. We also need to enact legislation that will ensure that a wide variety of fuel sources are available at our service stations. We also need to increase transparency of our domestic energy production. We should require oil and gas drillers to disclose what fracking chemical they are using. We also need to continue the ban on offshore oil drilling along Florida’s coasts. And we need to ensure that oil companies and their contractors and subcontractors are fully financially responsible for any spills, including cleanup costs, environmental damage, and individual loss. Sea Level Rise Sea level rise comes with climate change. The Third National Climate Assessment, released May 6, 2014, projected a sea level rise of 1 to 4 feet by 2100 if carbon emissions continue at their present rate. At that rate, much of District 27 would be several feet underwater, with high tides moving inland several miles. A national policy that encourages the use of wind, solar, and tidal energy generation, together with a push toward greater fuel economy and energy efficiency can slow the sea level rise that could consume our children and our grandchildren. I also support beach re-nourishment and coastal wetlands and coral reef restoration efforts, which will reduce the threat from storm surge flooding. Finally, I will make sure that the federal government continues to fund flood insurance, and that the dollars we pay for flood insurance remain in the State of Florida. We need funding for resiliency infrastructure, and Kristen will make this one of her top priorities in Washington. Free Community College Community college is the key to social equity in the United States of America. Right now, students across the country graduate from high school without the skills to earn a living wage, having no choice but to seek out minimum wage jobs as careers. While we need to raise the minimum wage, is only a band-aid for a larger problem. We need to provide people with the skills they need to seek out careers that pay. We can do that. We will work with states to create partnerships and a national initiative to streamline workforce curriculums and fund community colleges. This is how you train people for the 21st century. When you invest in people, the return is tremendous. Environment South Florida is almost Paradise. We’re blessed with warm, year-round temperatures, a beautiful blue ocean to our east and the exotic ecology of the Everglades to our west. Our location gives our residents unprecedented health, lifestyle, and recreational benefits. We live in the most special ecosystem on Planet Earth. But our paradise is also fragile. We sit on our drinking water supply, the Biscayne Aquifer. Our proximity to the ocean means that we are vulnerable to hurricanes and high tides. We need to protect our environment for ourselves, our children, and our future generations. We can and we must grow our economy and protect our environment. We need to continue to restore the Everglades by restoring the natural flow of water from the Lake Okeechobee watershed through the Everglades and out into Florida Bay. Doing this will not only bring life back to the Everglades, but it will protect our drinking water supply. We need to protect Biscayne National Park from being delisted as a protected space. It’s 270 square miles of bay waters, mangrove coastlines, and coral reefs make it the most unique national park in the nation. The South Florida national parks comprised of Big Cypress National Preserve, Biscayne National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park and Everglades National Park, are visited by 3 million people who spend over $200 million and support 3,248 jobs in the local area. We also need to oppose fracking in the Everglades, as well as opposing any efforts to pump radioactive nuclear waste below our drinking water supply. K-12 Education As a former high school teacher and a professor at Miami-Dade College, I know the importance of education. And I’ve also seen how our present education system is failing a lot of our children. The answer that the Republicans offer is cut funding, transfer needed tax dollars into charter schools, many of which are for-profit entities, and to bad-mouth teachers. Our public school system was created as a way for every child, even from the humblest background, to put a foot on the first rung of the ladder of success. We need to expand Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to include more schools and more students. A decent education should be recognized as a right for every child. And we need to do a serious overhaul of No Child Left Behind and to expand school lunch programs because a hungry child is a child who can’t focus on learning. The Administration’s plan to diverting needed federal dollars from local schools into private charter schools, and forcing state governments and local school boards to follow suit, is recipe for disaster. It promises only to enrich those who run these private schools. Although there are some good charter schools, when things get tough, all too often we have seen them close in the middle of the night and with the children left on the doorstep of public schools. I support the idea of making community college tuition-free so that every student can get a basic education. But I’d go one step further. Because our economy is rapidly changing, I’d also propose using our community colleges as a base from which people can be retrained for the new jobs. And I’d make that retraining free, too. Students shouldn’t have to reapply for financial aid every year. And we need to cut back or even eliminate interest on student loans. If we can afford to lend money to banks interest-free, we can afford to lend it to students interest-free, too. Teaching is the noblest profession. A good teacher shouldn’t be restricted to following a script. She or he should use every tool to set young minds on fire, stoking a lifelong thirst for knowledge. Immigration Orderly immigration has been the foundation of American growth since its founding. Since most illegal immigrants overstay their visas, building a wall on the Mexican border, at an estimated cost of $70 billion, is no way to handle the problem. I believe in a fair immigration plan that will allow DREAMERS to stay, find a path to citizenship for those here under Temporary Protection Status (TPS), that will not split families, and that allows an eventual path to citizenship will make us stronger as a nation. I also believe that we must fight efforts to discriminate against immigrants who are of a particular ethnic, racial, or religious group. I find the Administration’s efforts to impose a self-proclaimed “Muslim ban” to be both unconstitutional and un-American. In addition, the Administration’s attempt to coerce communities into enforcing federal immigration law at the expense of receiving federal funds violates the doctrine of separation of powers that our constitutional democracy is built upon. LGBTQ Even before the landmark case of Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, our nation has had a long, tragic history of denigrating members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender communities. Although the Supreme Court’s decision on constitutional Equal Protection grounds would appear to have settled the matter, there are still some on the Far Right who are intent on re-opening the closets and shoving all those they disagree with back in. Even worse, some communities are enacting legislation that would legalize discrimination against LGBTQ members. I would support legislation that clarifies that discrimination against LGBTQ people is sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Outside our country, several nations practice discrimination, harassment, persecution, and execution of LGBTQ people. We must ensure that the foreign policy of the United States stands for the proposition that all persons, regardless of where they live or who they love, should be free from fear. Veterans We should do everything we can to support our men and women in the military service, both while they wear their uniforms and when they come home. Too many members of Congress see taking care of veterans as a burden, instead of what it truly is: our sacred duty and our honor. The men and women who served during World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, as well as the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and during periods of peace, need to know that when their service is over, the promises we made to them are the promises that we will keep. We need to fully fund and support our VA hospital system. To cut down wait times, we should expand the VA medical delivery system into one that mirrors Medicare, allowing veterans to see any physician enrolled in the program. That will nearly eliminate delays in providing treatment. We also need to streamline the system for applying for a disability. A wait time of years is unacceptable. Transportation Anyone who has spent the rush hour on South Florida’s roads knows that we need to expand and upgrade our transportation infrastructure. Long commute times contribute to air and water pollution, lessen our quality of life, and decrease productivity. The federal government needs to make an investment in urban areas, like Greater Miami. We should be looking for creative solutions to our transportation problems. We also need to help communities upgrade their airport and seaports, making the movement of people and cargo more efficient. And we need to improve the job that the TSA does at our national airports so that passengers can be quickly and courteously screened. Economy When the Great Recession hit in December 2007, Congress could have moved quickly to enact a stimulus and get the nation back to work. Instead, Congress dawdled, hoping to turn the nation’s plight into a political gain in the 2012 Presidential election. In the meantime, millions of families fell into poverty and millions of homes were foreclosed. The damage done to the economy may take a generation to heal. When I am in Congress, I will not let politics get in the way of solving our problems. There is still much we can do to move the economy on the right track. Republicans, however, are intent on following a script first written during the Reagan years — trickle-down economics. We were promised that the “Job Creators” would use their tax breaks to hire more workers. That was a lie. Those earlier tax cuts were used to finance stock buybacks and increased pay for CEOs. Focusing tax relief on the top 1% won’t do anything to grow the economy. It didn’t under Reagan. It didn’t under George H.W. Bush. It didn’t under George W. Bush. And it won’t under Donald Trump. Instead, we should focus tax relief on the middle class. We should also fund infrastructure projects like roads and bridges, projects that will literally get our country moving again. I will also support projects to improve Miami Dade’s two economic engines, Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami. That’s the way to grow jobs. Women's Issues From the signing of our Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, until 1920, American women had no voice in our nation. As we approach the centennial of universal suffrage, we must recognize that there is still work to be done. American women make up slightly more than half of our population. While most issues affect woman the same that they do men, there are areas of special concern that I will be focusing on. Contraception The burden of family planning has fallen largely on women. Contraceptive choices are something best left up to the woman and their medical providers. I understand the financial burdens that women face every day. The ACA gives women access to contraceptive services without an additional co-pay. However, the Trump Administration has issued rules that widen the range of employers and insurers that can invoke religious or moral beliefs to avoid the ACA requirement that birth control pills and other contraceptives be covered by insurance as part of preventive care. When I’m in Congress, I will fight to restore the law to its plain meaning. Women’s Health The ACA removed the pre-existing condition exclusion for many conditions women face. Some insurers used to treat a Cesarean section as a prior condition and would not cover the subsequent need for that procedure, even in the case of an emergency. The ACA also removed the “women’s tax” on health care premiums, charging women a higher premium just for being a woman. I will fight any attempt to return us to those days. We need to keep in place the requirement that women can get treatment by an OB/GYN without the need for a referral or prior approval, regardless of the type of insurance a woman has. Choice I am committed to preserving a woman’s right to choose and maintaining safe access to reproductive health services. Sensitive decisions should be left up to the judgment of a woman and her doctor. I also supported legislation that would expand access to preventive health care services to help reduce unintended pregnancies, which would have the effect of reducing the need for abortions, as part of a comprehensive plan to improve access to women’s health care. I oppose the assault on women’s health care, including efforts to slash federal funding to health clinics where millions of women get access to critical health care services. Cutting funding for these vital programs only serves to imperil women’s health. Equality and Opportunity We need to close the wage gap between men and women in this country. Women still only earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. We need to strongly implement the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act – the law makes it easier to sue over gender discrimination in the workplace. I will also fight for the enactment of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would provide a much-needed update to the Equal Pay Act by providing effective remedies to women who are not being paid equal wages for doing equal work. I also support the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which would require employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers, such as permission to use a stool while working a cash register or carry a bottle of water to stay hydrated, or temporary reassignment to lighter duty tasks. It will also prevent employers from forcing women out on leave. These protections would allow pregnant women to keep working and supporting their families while maintaining healthy pregnancies. Women in the Military More and more women are serving with distinction and honor throughout our military. I fully support integrating women into combat roles. Women have proven time again throughout our history, that when given the opportunity, they can and will succeed. The U.S. military has successfully used the talents and skills of women in every recent war our nation has fought — from Women Air Service pilots in WWII to participation in combat teams in Afghanistan. Women can both lead and succeed. Now, the U.S. military has opened all jobs to women, there are no longer limits to the contribution a person makes to national security. I will fight any attempt to limit the role of women in our armed forces. Israel There can be lasting peace in the Middle East. Lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace is achieved through direct negotiations between the two parties. A Jewish state can peacefully share a border with a Palestinian state. Actions by the UN General Assembly and militancy by the Palestinian Authority have only gotten in the way of progress. To achieve peace, we must be prepared to: Support talks that are direct and bilateral. Encourage both sides to make key good—faith compromises. Support and work closely with Israel. Iran is a nation that is attempting to export its radical revolutionary ideology by supporting terrorist proxy groups — Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip — which carry out attacks on civilians, as well as support for the rogue regimes in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. We need to use our influence to push back against Iran and to contain them like the U.S. contained the Soviet Union during the Cold War. That will protect both Israel and the United States. |
” |
| —Kristen Rosen Gonzalez’s campaign website (2018)[3] | ||
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Florida's 27th Congressional District election, 2018
- Florida's 27th Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Kristen Rosen Gonzalez for Congress, "About," accessed June 20, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Kristen Rosen Gonzalez for Congress, “Issues,” accessed August 24, 2018
