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William VanHorn

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William VanHorn
Image of William VanHorn

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

August 23, 2022

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Navy

Years of service

1969 - 1973

Personal
Birthplace
Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Religion
Catholic
Profession
Retail sales
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

William VanHorn (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Florida's 15th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 23, 2022.

VanHorn completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

William VanHorn was born in Rockville Centre, New York. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1973. His career experience includes working in retail sales.[1]

Elections

2022

See also: Florida's 15th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 15

Laurel Lee defeated Alan Cohn in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 15 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Laurel Lee
Laurel Lee (R)
 
58.5
 
145,219
Image of Alan Cohn
Alan Cohn (D)
 
41.5
 
102,835

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 248,054
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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 15

Alan Cohn defeated Gavin Brown, Eddie Geller, Cesar Ramirez, and William VanHorn in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 15 on August 23, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Alan Cohn
Alan Cohn
 
33.1
 
14,928
Image of Gavin Brown
Gavin Brown Candidate Connection
 
22.3
 
10,034
Image of Eddie Geller
Eddie Geller Candidate Connection
 
21.9
 
9,859
Image of Cesar Ramirez
Cesar Ramirez
 
17.3
 
7,817
Image of William VanHorn
William VanHorn Candidate Connection
 
5.4
 
2,435

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 45,073
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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 15

Laurel Lee defeated Kelli Stargel, Jackie Toledo, Demetries Grimes, and Kevin McGovern in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 15 on August 23, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Laurel Lee
Laurel Lee
 
41.5
 
22,481
Image of Kelli Stargel
Kelli Stargel
 
27.8
 
15,072
Image of Jackie Toledo
Jackie Toledo
 
11.6
 
6,307
Image of Demetries Grimes
Demetries Grimes Candidate Connection
 
10.4
 
5,629
Image of Kevin McGovern
Kevin McGovern Candidate Connection
 
8.7
 
4,713

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 54,202
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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

William VanHorn completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by VanHorn'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 a blue-collar, working class American who is tired of many things that are occurring in our country today. I served four years in the US Navy as a communication technician. After my honorable discharge, I took a job in a manufacturing company while I awaited the results of my Post Office exam. I was hired in 1978 in the Patchogue, NY PO where I worked for fourteen years. I moved to the west coast of Florida for family reasons. I finished with sixteen years in the Clearwater, FL PO. During my thirty years in the Postal Service, I was a shop steward for eighteen years and the Vice President of my local NALC Branch for eleven years. My experience in the union made me very focused and detail oriented. I took many courses on conflict management and feel this will enable me to be a better representative. I am proud to be a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers for over forty years.
  • As a working class individual, I feel I can identify with the voters in this District. Like them, anything I have, I had to work hard for. Certain Republicans seem to want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare in the near future. I want to expand and protect these programs for our seniors who have worked their entire life and desrve these benefits.
  • I don't believe the federal or state governments should have a say about what a woman can do with their bodies. We are on the verge of the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade. In the United States, approximately 70% of the population is in favor of right to choice, in one capacity or another.
  • I don't believe in isolationism. We have to keep America strong and work with our allies to ensure people around the world have a chance to develop and live their lives without fear of invasion. WE don't have to have boots on the ground in order to accomplish this.
I am very passionate about education. All our young children have to have the opportunity and the resources necessary to have the best education they can. If they are a Title 1 school, they need to have the resources from the Federal Government where children in poorer neighborhoods have the technology needed to be competitive in the job market when they get out. In this state, Florida, teachers have to have their salaries raised to a livable wage. Currently, I believe teacher's salaries in this state randk 47 out of 50. I plan to work on a grant to increase their salaries to where they should be. I will work to make sure the Federal Government lives up to their responsibilities to fund 40% of the budget for ESE students. Currently, they are at somewhere between 17% and 25%.

I am also very interested in healthcare. We should expand the Affordable Care Act and make it a one payor system. One insurance company to insure everyone in the plan would make for much lower payments for the families.

Social Security should be expanded to begin at 60 years old with no penalty. Do away with the maximum retirement age and ensure the cost of living increases are a minimum of 2.5%.
I looked up to my father. Although he was far from perfect, he taught me that no matter what job you have, or what you're getting paid, do the best you can every day. If you wanted to complain about a job, he would tell me to find something I enjoyed and go for it. My father was also a strong union member, Internationation of Operating Engineers, Local 138. He taught me pride in being a union member. I enjoy all sorts of different people. I loved my time in the Postal Service because I met so many people, it was amazing what I learned. Both from customers and fellow postal employees. I also worked retail and met a whole other sector of people. I am definitely a people person. Many people need assistance at some point in their life and I look for those chances to hel[ other out.
The Constitution and the first three words- "We the People."
Everyone get equal and fair representation .
An elected official's policies should first reflect the interests of his/her constituents. You were elected not to push your agenda, just your voters. An elected official should report back to their voters reguarly to let them know what progress, if any, is being made on their behalf. An elected official should be willing to put in long hours to ensure policies being discussed aren't harmful to the area they represent.
From my experience as an union official, I have learned to be patient, focused, and detail oriented. I have much experience in dispute resolution and consensus building. I have taken classes on Federal Workman's Compensation, Department of Labor Time and Attendance as well as FMLA. i was trained to be an arbitration advocate.
Honesty-Trustworthy

Hard work-focused and detail oriented.

Dispute resolution and consensus building.
There is a commercial on television, I think from the United Way, that has a short clip of an American classroom with children leaning on their hands or laying on their desks. The commentator says, "Tonight, over 51 million children will go to bed hungry." If there was on ly one thing I could do, it would be to make lsure that situation was taken care of and that no child would ever be hungry.
The Cuban Missle Crisis. Oct, 1962. I was twelve years old.
My first job was between 10th and 11th grade at a grocery store in West Islip, NY. My real first job was in the US Navy and I served for four years.
Rex Stout mystery novels, especially Nero Wolf.
Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise
Billy Joel- Only the Good Die Young
Getting my name out in this election. It is difficult to raise money for my campaign in this political environment.
The House is a more representative institution than the Senate. While each state equally has two Senators, the House is usually divided up into districts that the approximate population is 700,000. In Florida, the population is 21.22 million people being represented by two Senators. People have a much easier access to the Congressmen/women because of how the Districts are set up. One of our Senators has nine offices in Florida. There are 28 Congressinal Districts and usually House members have 2-3 offices. It gives the constituents easier access to be heard and also visit their representaive and share ideas or voice concerns.
Absolutely not. I believe to be an effective representative, you have to possess common sense and logic and realize that the people's needs come before your own. You have to be focused and detail oriented. None of these skills can be taught in any class or learned in politics. You either have them or you don't.
The security of our country and the world. Currently, the Russian invasion into Ukraine is setting the stage for more possible invasions into Europe. This will truly have adverse affects not only on those countries but also out allies. If Russia is sucessful, maybe China will try and do the same thing to Taiwan. Where does it stop? Cyber-security goes along with this. These areas of concern have to be funded, not over-funded, so we can have the level of defense this country and our allies need in the future.
House Commitee on Oversight and Reform

Education and Labor

Foreign Affairs
No. I think once a person gets elected into the House, they need to have re-election planning in the back of their minds. I believe a staggered, four year term would serve the government and the people more effectively.
I believe in term limits. I believe everyone elected to Congress should serve no more than twelve years. After a certain period in Congress, I believe the people think less about their constituents and more on gaining power. If everyo9ne served for thirty or forlty years, it wouldn't give the next generation the chance to get involved in politics and generate new ideas and policies.
John McHugh was a Republican representative from upstate New York. While I wasn't in favor of all his ideas, I respected his fight and support of the Postal Service against the majority of his party.
I was on a union Zoom meeting during the pandemic. One of the peole was a communication worker and she asked what would happen if she would lose her job. How would she be able to purchase healthcare. As a retired federal worker, I will always have coverage. Her story brought to the forefront one of the most important issues in the United Staes, affordable healthcare. The conversation revolved around the idea of Medicare for All and the ACA. That is why when I am elected I will be making healthcare one of my top priorities.
This is the dumb joke my father told me when I was having a rough day.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Sam and Janet
Sam and Janet who?
Sam and Janet evening (some enchanted evening)

Told you it was bad!
Compromise is both necessary and desirable to policymaking. Neither party is 100% right or wrong. Take gun violence as an example. This is one of our worst domestic problems we have today. Democrats are adamant about bannig assault rifles and the Republicans are just as adamant not to. There is plenty of issues involving gun control that don't infringe on a person's right to own guns. Cooler heads on both sides of the aisle need to sit down and throw all their ideas out. They can debate them one at a time and see what they can reach consensus on. If they could just focus on the policy and not their party, I'm sure they can come up with an agreement that everyuone might like entirely, but can live with the results and support the policy publicly. There are too many win-lose scenarios in Congress. If they could use this model of making policy, then we would have much more meaningful legislation coming out of Congress.
As a Democrat, I don't believe in the label of Tax and spend. I believe the Constitution places responsibilities on the Federal Government to provide certain services to its residents. We need to take these respnsibilities seriously and try and avoid adding to the deficit. I believe those in Congress should have a certain period of time to review the Appropriations Bill to ensure that our country's money is being invested wisely, not foolishly. We need to make sure everyone is paying their fair share and not cater to a certain class of people.

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.

Campaign website

VanHorn's campaign website stated the following:

“

ON THE ISSUES

TAXES I do not believe in a “Wealth” Tax. I do believe that everyone needs to be taxed properly, with the wealthy paying their fair share. I also believe in a tax credit for law enforcement, fire fighters, and teachers. The first two we rely on in emergencies and the third we give our children to, so they can educate and prepare them for the future.

EDUCATION

As a father of seven, education is of paramount importance to me. Funding for education must be at a level where all children have access to a good, equal education, regardless of the income of the area. Schools need to be funded and they need to have the latest technology possible, including all the resources necessary to provide a safe, healthy learning experience.

GUN SAFETY

The debate about what kills people, guns, or the people using them- the talk must stop. We must have a comprehensive plan!

  1. I do not believe in banning the sale or distribution of weapons described as assault rifles. Rather, I believe the minimum age to buy a rifle including, but not limited to an AR-15 or a .223 should be 25 years old.
  2. All sales of firearms must first have a universal background check; including private sales, gun shows, etc.
  3. The length of a background check should take 7 business days. This will close the Charlotte loophole. It would also allow investigators sufficient time to do a thorough background check on every individual.
  4. All large capacity magazines and drums should no longer be sold.
  5. The CDC should not be involved with any type of mental health screenings. We saw how the CDC can be influenced in the past from the previous Administration. Instead, a well-respected mental health organization should be enlisted to study- why there is such an abundance of mass shootings and make appropriate recommendations to help prevent them.

IMMIGRATION

The Federal Government should set up an annual cap of legal immigrants. When there are problems like what we see between the US and Mexican border, both governments need to come up with a viable plan to stop illegal immigrants from entering this country. Such plans can be working with the countries whose residents are entering illegally and coming up with plans together.

FOREIGN POLICY

The United States must take whatever action is needed to regain its spot as the “#1 World Leader”. We can not afford to let dictatorships spread unchecked throughout the world. We must stand strong with our allies and be there when needed. Naturally, diplomacy should always be the first course of action. I am not advocating going to war at the drop of a hat. Human life is of the upmost importance. We need to set the proper example and lead.

HEALTHCARE

Every individual must have the ability to access low-cost healthcare. I believe we should build on the Affordable Healthcare Act. A single parent with children should not have to worry about healthcare for themselves or for their children. Neither should a middle-aged person who has lost their job and coverage. I will not go into every example that there is, but there must be a safety net in place, so that people have access to the necessary healthcare needed.

DISCRIMINATION

This includes people of color, nationality, religion, or gender identity. If you believe in the Constitution of the United States, then there should be no discrimination. “WE the People” is inclusive! Let us not lose sight of that. This is a country of immigrants from all around the world. Each person should be treated the same as the next.


You have read some of the issues and see what I believe in. Now, here is what I do not believe in:

LAW ENFORCEMENT

I do not believe in defunding any police department. I doubt if you ask any of the top officials in any law enforcement agency, they will tell you that they do not have sufficient funds to do all that is necessary.

PRO LIFE VS. PRO CHOICE

A female friend of mine, a staunch Republican said, “I do not want the Federal Government to tell me what I can or can not do with my body.” Despite my Catholic upbringing, I want to go to Congress to represent the people of this District; something they have not had for quite some time. I am not going there to fight for my agenda, or what I think is important. That is something we have had for too long.

REPRESENTATION

I do not want to be elected to Congress by catering only to a small percent of people. I believe I can represent everyone equally. Our incumbent votes in favor of the wealthy about 76% of the time. That doesn’t leave much room for his consideration for working lass people.

CHOSE POLICY NOT PARTY

This is not just a campaign slogan. This should be the way people approach their voting decisions. I do not vote the way my parents voted. I do not always vote for a candidate by their party. Neither should anyone else. Every person in this District works hard for what they have. They should have a Representative that has the same values as they do and works their hardest to fight for their constituents. When I was delivering mail in Clearwater to my senior section, I delivered political mail to an elderly woman. I remember her saying to me “Oh, I don’t need that. I already know who I am going to vote for. I’m going to vote for the candidates of the xxxx Party.” The woman did not even know who was running or what they stood for.[2]

”
—William VanHorn's campaign website (2022)[3]

See also

2022 Elections

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External links

Candidate

U.S. House Florida District 15
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 30, 2022
    2. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    3. ↑ Bill VanHorn for Congress, “On the Issues,” accessed August 22, 2022


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