As part of our commitment to providing you with what you need to make an informed decision in the 2026 elections, News 6 joined with the News Collaborative of Central Florida to present the Voting Central Florida 2026 Voter’s Guide.
Tuesday, Aug. 18 is the Florida Statewide Primary election, a mix of party primaries and nonpartisan local elections, such as school board races, judicial races, and county commission races in some counties.
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Florida has a closed primary system, which means only members of a political party may vote in party primaries. To be eligible, a voter had to identify with that party by July 20.
However, judicial races and local races, for the most part, are open to all registered voters, regardless of political party.
Everything you need to know in order to vote in the Aug. 18 Statewide Primary, including how to vote by mail, vote early, and vote on Election Day, can be found in our Election 2026 section HERE.
Florida House District 23 candidates
The Florida House District 23 election is a Republican primary for registered Republicans living in the district. The winner will move on to the general election in November
Florida House District 23 represents part of Marion County in Central Florida, as well as Citrus.
The News Collaborative of Central Florida created a list of common questions to ask the candidates. Questionnaires were sent to all candidates.
Not all of the candidates responded. Where candidates did not respond, we have filled out the information to the best of our abilities.
Our News Collaborative partners at Central Florida Public Media compiled the candidate responses for Florida House District 23.
You can also see the full Central Florida Public Media Voting Guide HERE.
Tod Cloud
WEBSITE: www.cloud4flhouse.com/
Central Florida Public Media Candidate Profile:
- What are the two most pressing problems happening in your district, and what do you suggest to solve them? Please put your responses in the sections below.
- Top Issue: Affordable homeowners’ insurance. I would think outside the box and make Florida’s Citizens Insurance the first choice and not the last choice. I would also explore the possibility of backs self-insuring their loans.
- Issue #2: Water quality. Stop the spraying of herbicides in our waterways by the F.W.C. and limiting the spraying by the power companies to control vegetation. We also need to stop selling our natural water resources to bottling companies.
- According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue? We need more programs like Habitat for Humanity. Or find other Federal Grants to help build affordable housing.
- Will you vote YES or NO on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions? No! The ballot Amendment is not what the Governor had in mind. The House and Senate made it too complicated, instead of keeping it simple.
- Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond? No Data Centers. Unless the Data center is built next to a power company, like they could have done in Citrus County and they could also use the Gulf of America/Gulf of Mexico for its water-cooling system.
- What do you think is the biggest environmental issue your government should address in Florida? Overdevelopment is a very big problem in our district. We need to stop the overdevelopment of our Nature Coast. We also need to stop the Toll Roads.
J.J. Grow
WEBSITE: www.votejjgrow.com/
Central Florida Public Media Candidate Profile:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This candidate did not respond to our request to fill out this voter guide. To best serve you, we searched candidate websites, social media and interviews they’ve done to provide answers to the following questions.
- What are the two most pressing problems happening in your district, and what do you suggest to solve them? Please put your responses in the sections below.
- Top Issue: Grow lists as the first issue on his campaign website the following: Cutting your taxes and fiscal responsibility. There is nothing more important than putting money back into the pockets of hard-working Florida families. JJ Grow voted to cut BILLIONS in taxes, including sales taxes holidays for school supplies, tools, and hurricane preparedness items and voted to place historic property tax relief on the ballot this November, potentially saving homeowners thousands of dollars a year in property taxes. JJ also voted to shrink the size of state government, voting for back-to-back balanced budgets that reduced spending, paid off early one billion in debt and put billions in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.
- Issue #2: Grow lists insurance second on his campaign website under issues: Florida’s insurance market needs continued reforms to make sure we have a thriving, stable, and AFFORDABLE marketplace. Because of the reforms, passed a few years ago that targeted frivolous lawsuits and needless litigation, our insurance market is showing signs of improvement. We‚Äôve seen OVER 30 homeowners‚Äô insurance companies DECREASE their rates, we’ve seen OVER 40 auto insurance companies DECREASE their rates and we’ve had nearly two dozen new insurance companies come into Florida more competition helps lower prices. We have to remain vigilant and make sure that insurance companies are doing the right thing, paying out claims, and not hiding profits so homeowners and drivers can enjoy continued reductions in rates.
- According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue? Grow believes reducing property taxes is a means to keeping Floridians in their homes. On his campaign website, he says he will preserve and expand property tax exemptions for seniors, veterans, and working families while also ensuring governments are using tax dollars efficiently.
- Will you vote YES or NO on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions? Grow voted in favor of putting the property tax measure to voters in November. He did not respond to the survey, so it is unclear whether he will vote yes or no.
- Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond? Grow did not respond to this questionnaire. However, he did, this past legislative session, vote in favor of a bill that supporters say will prevent utilities from shifting the cost of large-scale data centers onto small businesses and residential customers. That legislation, SB 484, is now law.
- What do you think is the biggest environmental issue your government should address in Florida? Grow did not respond to this questionnaire; however, he describes himself as an avid outdoorsman. Grow also states in a video on his website that in part, he’s running to make sure that we “take care of the conservation and the tourism being blessed with the natural resources that we have.”