2026 Voter’s Guide - US House District 11, Republican primary

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.

[ELECTION 2026: Make sure you’re eligible to vote|How to vote by mail|Election Myths]

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.

Republican U.S. House District 11 candidates

The Republican U.S. House District 11 primary is open to all registered Republicans residing in District 11.

Because of redistricting this year, U.S. House District 11 was redrawn. It now includes parts of Orange, Lake, Marion and Sumter counties in Central Florida.

The primary will decide who represents the party in the November general election. The current congressman, Daniel Webster, is retiring.

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 Vox Populi compiled the candidate responses for U.S. House District 11. Below is an excerpt of each candidate’s profile.

Carey Baker

WEBSITE: careybaker.com/

Vox Populi Candidate Profile:

NOTE: VoxPopuli asked candidates extra questions for our readers. At the time of our interview, Baker said he would turn in his questionnaire, so we didn’t ask him those questions. He never turned the questionnaire in, and we’re working on other candidates, so we did not have the bandwidth to research. This is what we’re running with.

Do you support the Iran War? I believe ultimately the Middle East will be safer, Europe will be safer and America will be safer. Because we have dramatically reduced Iran’s ability to develop and produce missiles and rockets that easily can reach the Middle East and Europe. We have easily stopped the further enrichment of uranium for nuclear weapons. Then you have to believe them at their word when they say, “Death to Israel. Death to America.” They’re saying those words; those are their words, not ours, and they’re building weapons that could produce that result. There is no greater destabilizing force in the Middle East than Iran.

 I’m not for these forever wars. I am not for boots-on-the-ground, long-term deployment. But I am for a muscular defense of our national interest. And if that means going into a place like Iran and taking out their capabilities in the manner we have, that’s not only in our national defense, but also just serves greater humanity; I am 100 percent in support.

Have the tariffs grown our economy and reduced our cost of living?

For every tax, there is a reasonable limit. There is a limit to property taxes, there’s a limit to income taxes, there’s a limit to sales tax and there’s a limit to tariffs. I believe they should all be as low as possible so they do not adversely affect free trade, free enterprise. I don’t like to use tax policy to push my favorite economic agenda. I believe it should all be fairly applied and let the free market decide the winners and losers.

But I do think the president has the ability and the right to use tariffs as a negotiating tool. I do not support raising our tariffs to a high level as a protectionism method. But I absolutely support them being used strategically. President Trump is using this, I believe, as a negotiating tool to address that. I hope the goal is that then we lower those tariffs.

I have no problem with tariffs on Chinese products and goods because I think we’re dealing with the enemy, quite frankly. Our national interests are now at risk because we have allowed China to dominate certain sectors of our economy, and I think that has to stop. One way of making it stop is tariffs. So all my philosophical waxing about tariffs needing to be low, that doesn’t apply to China.

 At a Republican candidates forum, you mentioned that you wanted to dismantle the Department of Education. How should public schools be taken care of? If you look in the Constitution, there’s a little section that lists all the powers of government, powers of Congress; none of them say provide for the common education. One could make an argument that education in the grade school level, especially, has diminished since we’ve had a Department of Education. Do I blame them? No. But did it happen? Yes. So did they help reverse or stop that loss? No. So here would be a compromise. We could take some of that money that’s currently funding the Department of Education and just block grant it. We just divide it out based on population or student population in the state and give out block grants. We could probably reduce the budget by half or more, turn the rest into block grants, give that to the state. But do we need a federal education program? No.

 One of the things Congressman Dan Webster always did for our area was bring back appropriations. What appropriations would you push for?

 What I won’t do is just bring back appropriations just for appropriations’ sake. Every appropriation that I would fight for has to be aimed at a problem. It has to meet public scrutiny and transparency: What is this money for? Is there a benefit to the community? Is there a benefit to the national interest? I am not just a “bring home the bacon” guy. I want to be able to justify every dollar that I bring back. I’d like to track what grants, what federal programs are now being spent in our district, and how we can do better.

The U.S. appears to be ceding the renewable energy market and the electric vehicle market to the Chinese. What do you think?

 I have a different take on that. Solar should only be used where it works. Solar can never replace base power production. Base power production is 24/7 production. Literally, in any given day, there’s probably only about five hours of peak solar, five hours out of 24, where solar’s really producing anything. Wind is almost non-existent in the state of Florida. You have to have 12 miles an hour wind for 10 hours a day to make it work. So wind is not even an option. Not to ruin our Sunshine State motto, but really we are a very cloudy state, and that affects solar production. So I’m not a big fan of forcing solar. I’m not a big fan of forcing wind where it’s not economically feasible.

 I’m all about traditional energy sources. I’m not a big global warming or climate change guy. Natural gas is an easy one. We have to go back to nuclear. We have to re-adopt nuclear for base production. Once we remove the regulatory cost burdens, once these new plants, the latest technology, the cost of producing nuclear plants becomes much less. There’s no emissions. The amount of nuclear waste is minuscule. They have to be sited appropriately. New technology allows more options in siting that are less reliant on water. So I believe that we should a- adopt nuclear power for base production and only use wind and solar where it actually works. And I think that will help provide energy for the future.

Ivette Palomo

WEBSITE: americankitchentable.com/

Vox Populi Candidate Profile:

If elected what are the three most pressing problems you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

The insurance crisis. We have algorithms that are telling people what they owe. And while there’s an 18 percent cap on the increases, they’re still pretty devastating for some families. And some families are losing their homes because they can’t pay their insurance.

With insurance, there’s black boxes, there’s algorithms, there’s all of these means of determining what someone’s insurance premium will be. But neither you or I, no one in District 11, the state, the nation, have voted for that. And then what we find is that some families are losing their homes because they can’t pay. Someone I spoke to called their representative and the representative says, Let me look into it. And then they look into it, and then they answer, There’s nothing that I can do. I cannot compel an agency to do XYZ for you. Then why did we vote to put that candidate in office? If he cannot compel and make changes for not just one person that’s suffering, but many?

Lack of control over food sources. If we were to enter into a war, where is our food coming from? Are we going to have enough to supply ourselves? And not just as a common defense issue, but as a daily issue?

We used to drive down roads and see eggs for sale. We no longer see that. And these little farms are finding it hard to feed their chickens and the money that they’re getting for the eggs is not equivalent. It is in the red. That’s the whole problem. If we don’t have food sources within our state, we have to wait for a truck to come. And you know what happened during one of our hurricanes where we didn’t have toilet paper at the supermarket. We have to pay attention to those things because that is important, not just for our daily lives in terms of nutrition and making sure that our food is traveling the least distance possible, but also as a common defense issue.

Healthcare. First, for the veterans. It has gotten better, but it’s still something that can be changed with the stroke of a pen. We need something that is solid for our veterans. My son is a veteran. People who have signed on the dotted line, in essence, they have taken a step. And we can’t forget that. Much more so for those who have been injured in any way. And even as well as the injury, just experience a different life, that they were willing to stand on the line for everyone else. And so veterans’ health has to be above board. We cannot forget that.

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? Affordability has to do not just with one area, but just many areas. So there’s the food area, there’s the mortgage area. There is the “are we getting paid enough?” area. All the things that make up basic living. Many of those things that are crushing us come as a result of regulations that were not voted on by the people. And so once we introduce the REINS Act [requiring Congressional approval of federal regulations before they can go into effect], there will be a time period in which we can look back at the most pressing issues that we have experienced and be able to say, This regulation has done X,Y,Z, and it has crushed our families.

Will you vote Yes or No on the proposed property tax amendment?

I couldn’t support it or not support it. It’s a state issue.

Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is really expected to exacerbate this issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators be responding? It’s a state issue. From a federal perspective, the only thing the government must pay attention to is how they affect federal public lands.

What do you think the biggest environmental issue is that your government should address in Florida? We hear a lot about the water in the aquifer and how that’s affecting families in rural areas, in towns and cities. What we need to do about the aquifers is that we need to understand everybody has a stake in it. And so we need to look at what these stakes mean. In terms of federal, we need to determine that there is a portion here that is completely in the hands of the state. They have to handle it. We need to learn when it is that we need to take our foot out of the mix because if we continue to do that, then we continue to build laws upon laws upon laws. That is something that the state has to figure out. You know why? Because they’re local.

Nizam Razack

WEBSITE: www.razackforcongress.com/

Vox Populi Candidate Profile:

If elected, what are the three most pressing problems you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

1. Healthcare. I’ve seen the bad policies and overregulation destroy our medical practice. I’ve seen patients hurt, families hurt, lack of access, poor quality, huge medical bills, lack of transparency. The number one reason for bankruptcy now is medical bills. If you get an MRI scan in my office, it costs $400. That same scan costs $5,000 across the street [at the hospital] with the exact same scanner, even the same tech sometimes when my tech works there too. That makes no sense. [We need a] law that hospitals have to openly publish their rates because that will bring prices down across state lines.

2. We have to promote small businesses. We have to promote small businesses because they’re the backbone of our country. They employ 70 percent of the people. We need to get rid of certain aspects of the Stark Law to make small businesses run by physicians more economical and survivable. There’s been a corporate takeover of medicine. They make the laws and regulations so stifling that people don’t want to [go into businesses]. We have to make it easier for people to manage small businesses rather than promote large corporations. We need tax breaks to make the cost of living more affordable rather than the giant corporations that can fire people and hire people to win. I think it can be done without increasing any taxes at all, if we can limit fraud and waste. What we need to do, at a federal level, is not give foreign countries blank checks. That’s where you get the money. We can’t support endless wars and nation building.

3. Make it easier for first-time home buyers to own a home. Lower the interest rates on first-time home buyers. Part of being an American is owning a home. And I think that is escaping us. In Florida, you see all these huge apartment buildings being built and that’s just … people aren’t buying homes.

Why do you deserve to win the election? We need more surgeons in Congress. Doing brain surgery, you can’t just rush through it. You have to know when to go fast and when to go slow, and you have to be very strategic. In legislative politics, you have to be strategic. And that’s why I use the phrase “getting the low-lying fruit.” Things that people would easily agree upon, get that done first, before moving on to the more challenging things. I understand that things move slowly there, but I think my experience as a surgeon would give me that patience and understanding to hopefully accomplish at least the good things before dealing with the frustrating things.

Joe Strada

WEBSITE: votestrada.com/

Mr. Strada did not respond to Vox Populi’s questionnaire.

Tim Wilkins

WEBSITE: www.timwilkinsforcongress.com/

Vox Populi Candidate Profile:

• YOUR NUMBER 1 ISSUE and how you plan to address it: Affordability. Addressing affordability will require a two-pronged approach; one is working towards lowering costs, the other is improving incomes. Lower costs of fuel can be achieved by fostering energy independence domestically and building more US refineries. Housing can be made more affordable by creating programs that increase supply and loan programs that expand home ownership to create personal equity. Healthcare needs a complete overhaul. The equally pressing issue is cutting waste, fraud, abuse and making true cuts to government spending in ways that continue to allow working Americans to keep more of what they earned. Things will be more affordable with higher retained earnings.
• YOUR  NUMBER 2 ISSUE and how you plan to address it:  Healthcare needs a complete overhaul. Since the Affordable Care Act was put in place, premiums have skyrocketed, deductibles have tripled and the quality of care has diminished. It is time to reassess the risk pool, allow people to collectively negotiate rates, and put transparency in the system. Additionally, we need to continue working to get favored nation status for prescription medicine and greatly improve domestic production for both price reductions and national security.
• YOUR NUMBER 3 ISSUE and how you plan to address it: Immigation. We do not have a broken system; a working system of laws was allowed to be broken. Unfettered immigration has created a massive crime problem across the country, with some counties reporting up to 70% of offenses being committed by illegal aliens. These immigrants have been subsidized at rates well beyond the amounts given to our struggling seniors, veterans, and hard-working American families and the use of those subsidies have driven up the prices of rent, food, and basic necessities. To fund those subsidies, our country, which takes in far less than it spends each year, borrowed money to do so, which caused inflation. By enforcing the laws in place, prices could continue to drop across all economic metrics, and taxpayer money could be far better utilized.
• FOR CHALLENGERS AND OPEN SEATS: Why do you deserve to be elected in this race? I believe I am the best candidate in this race because of my broad base of experience and skillset. As a veteran and business owner, I bring a full spectrum of knowledge and core values. As a professional communicator for over 30 years, I feel I will have a strong ability to connect with fellow lawmakers, be an effective messenger to the press, while keeping an open and transparent dialog with my district. Additionally, I believe my faith will be a strong component of both my decision making working to keep me grounded in a difficult environment.
• 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? Affordability. Addressing affordability will require a two-pronged approach; one is working towards lowering costs, the other is improving incomes. Lower costs of fuel can be achieved by fostering energy independence domestically. Housing can be more affordable by creating programs that increase supply and loan programs that expand home ownership to create personal equity. Healthcare needs a complete overhaul. The equally pressing issue is cutting waste, fraud, abuse and making true cuts to government spending in ways that continue to allow working Americans to keep more of what they earned. Things will be more affordable with higher retained earnings.
• 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? I will vote YES and look forward to the Governor’s implementation plan. The counties have been overspending well beyond inflation and population growth; the governor has a possible 10-year plan to provide cities who were already safeguarding taxpayer dollars, bonds and grants to help them transition.
• 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? I do not have enough information from both sides to correctly address data centers. I was studying them from an investment and the environment impact being stated in the media and social circles is possible being mischaracterized.
• What do you think is the biggest environmental issue your government should address in Florida? The government should continue to address clean air and water standards that are both manageable and sustainable. Additionally, Governor DeSantis has addressed cloud seeding and other similar issues but those are currently being violated due to constraints of altitude in existing federal law. This should be addressed