Rachel Brown (Florida)

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Rachel Brown
Image of Rachel Brown
Elections and appointments
Last election

November 3, 2020

Personal
Birthplace
Naples, Fla.
Profession
Horticulturalist
Contact

Rachel Brown (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Florida State Senate to represent District 27. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Brown completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Brown was born in Naples, Florida. Her career experience includes working as a gardener.[1]

Brown has been affiliated with the following organization:[1]

  • Lee Rights of Nature

Elections

2020

See also: Florida State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Florida State Senate District 27

Ray Rodrigues defeated Rachel Brown in the general election for Florida State Senate District 27 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ray Rodrigues
Ray Rodrigues (R)
 
60.5
 
176,954
Image of Rachel Brown
Rachel Brown (D) Candidate Connection
 
39.5
 
115,537

Total votes: 292,491
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Rachel Brown advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida State Senate District 27.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Florida State Senate District 27

Ray Rodrigues defeated Heather Fitzenhagen in the Republican primary for Florida State Senate District 27 on August 18, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ray Rodrigues
Ray Rodrigues
 
74.8
 
47,958
Image of Heather Fitzenhagen
Heather Fitzenhagen
 
25.2
 
16,118

Total votes: 64,076
Candidate Connection = 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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Campaign finance

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Rachel Brown completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Brown's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I am the environmental candidate.

I was working on my bachelors in environmental engineering when I was asked to run for FL Senate by the Democratic Environmental Caucus of FL. I have organized around climate action, attained a certification in Forest Gardening, and serve on the board of Lee County Rights of Nature. Part of my study focuses on nutrient runoff specifically in relation to the Caloosahatchee and Lake Okeechobee basins.

I was born and raised in Southwest Florida. My father comes from a long line of Floridians and my mother is a first generation immigrant from Costa Rica. Growing up in Florida I've seen constant construction on our roadways and yet it is still very difficult to get around lee county without a car. I've watched my city become urban sprawl as a result of a lack of smart city planning.


I believe a city should be planned around people rather than cars. As Florida has the third highest deaths due to car crashes per year in the nation we should focus police efforts towards keeping our roadways safe.

Activism: 2016 -spearheaded Human Trafficking education/awareness at Florida Gulf Coast University, went on an educational mission to Narok town, Kenya. 2018-petitioned for the Florida Cannabis Act (a recreational marijuana ballot initiative) with SSDP 2019-organized climate actions in Lee county.

2020-marching in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, challenging the current powers in a FL Senate Race.
  • You don't have a legal right to clean air and clean water. I believe you should. I serve on the board of Lee County Rights of Nature, and am fighting for your legal right to clean air and water to be defended in court. This fundamental right will allow checks and balances on industrial runoff. More environmental policy: we need more funding for research in climate resilience, a plan to carefully transition our economy off of fossil fuels, and invest in smarter city design that puts people first and cars second.
  • Livable wage- when people are paid less than the cost of living, the cycle of poverty continues. No one has to be on welfare if they have a livable wage and healthcare. Our current system has justified not providing healthcare as part of compensation, by resorting most labor to "part time" and "temporary labor". This requires workers to work multiple jobs, and allows companies to get away with not providing healthcare for workers. Furthermore, some are forced into the black market and then are incarcerated which makes it even harder for them to get a job when they get out. The solution is to establish a livable wage that automatically adjusts at the same rate of inflation, decriminalize drug possession and invest in rehabilitation.
  • Florida has the third highest death-by-car-crash rate in the nation. We need better city planning and safer roads.
Universal Birth Control

- Colorado saw a 60% decrease in abortion rates after a 5 year free IUD Program. Birth Control is a preventative measure that the right and the left should be working together on.
https://coloradosun.com/2019/10/21/colorado-abortion-rates-keep-declining-free-iuds-and-easier-access-to-the-pill-are-the-reason/


Livable Wage
- Here in Lee county, the average cost of rent has increased by 19% since 2001 while the average income has gone up by only 4%. This means the cost of living (an inelastic product) is increasing with no regulation but wages are staying nearly the same each year. A livable wage is about assessing the cost of living and making sure that an individual gets compensated enough in order to not make sacrifices like health care and child care in order to keep a roof over their head.
-Small businesses and start ups are still allowed to pay an employee up to 1,000/mo in cash. A living wage will not hurt small businesses.
https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/15980

Decriminalize Drug possession
-Drugs present a problem when an individual is addicted, using it to manipulate another, driving impaired or selling because they don't make a livable wage.
The solution? Invest in rehabilitation rather than incarceration, use police to crack down on reckless driving of all kind rather than policing people in their own homes, and provide aid to victims of sex trafficking rather than incarceration.

End school to prison pipeline.
Bernie Sanders has an authentic track record. He protested. He organized. He pushed for universal healthcare and a livable wage before it was popular. I admire authenticity.
Being a public servent. Telling the people what you are doing and what is happening in office every step of the way.
-doing whatever possible to make sure people have healthcare

-limiting nutrient runoff (pollution into waterways)
-working toward comprehensive police reform

-Putting forth bills to address Florida specific issues such as reckless driving and labor trafficking
My very first job was at a Pita Pit. I worked there for two months.
the Bible- huge part of my upbringing.
Financial distress. Growing up, my mother worked three jobs to put me through private Christian school. She is a hard working woman who received no child support from her ex-husband. To this day she hasn't been able to afford AC in her house which leaves me to believe AC should be a FL constitutional right.
Poverty is a systemic issue and it travels through generations. I have experienced homelessness and worked low income jobs in my life. Housing discrimination comes along with poverty as well. Someone who is part time in college and working low income jobs is not an ideal candidate for a rentor.
Preparing for and preventing climate change.

According to the Intergovmental Panel On Climate Change, Florida will be the first to experience the effects of climate change, and more specifically sea level rise. Being that Florida is a coastal enviroment.
Absoluetly. We all have different areas of expertise. No one person is an island unto themselves. We have to work together to do what is best for our people. At the end of the day, our job is to support our people despite our differences.
Yes, Agriculture Committee, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, Rules & Calandar Committee, and the Appropiations Committee.
Gigi's daughter is in solitaty confinement. Solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment. It does not rehabilitate. If dehumanises people and their families. The use of it needs to end.

A homeless man would come in to the dunkin doughnuts and the little caesars I worked at here in Ft. Myers. He was mentally ill and would never remember my name though we talked frequently and I gave him food we didn't sell. He would come in asking for work mainly, or to use the phone, or to ask for food. He said he used to work at Olive Garden as a dishwasher before he was laid off. He traveled on foot, looking for the library so he could fill out a job application.

Mr. Homes, the dishwasher at the last country club I worked at had to "take a leave of absence" per doctors orders because he had a physical illness that impared him from the physical labor of his job which he only received $10 an hour for (less than a liveable wage in Lee county-https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/12071). He also told me he didn't qualify for Medicaid because he and his partner had a combined income that was too high.

At Little Caesars we were required to through out the pizzas at the end of the night. We were not allowed to give them to citizens. On my last day, I took as many as I could pile on my bike and handed them out at the Days Inn. The receivers were very happy.
Also, at little caesars, a coworker told me he slept in a dumpster a couple times.

At Dunkin Doughnuts, my boss came into work after having neck surgery. She worked 60 hours that week and was not allowed to pay people over 8.75/hr.

...so much more


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


External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 27, 2020.


Current members of the Florida State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Ben Albritton
Majority Leader:Jim Boyd
Senators
District 1
Don Gaetz (R)
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
Tom Leek (R)
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
Vacant
District 12
District 13
District 14
Vacant
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
Jim Boyd (R)
District 21
Ed Hooper (R)
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
Republican Party (26)
Democratic Party (11)
No Party Affiliation (1)
Vacancies (2)