2026 Voter’s Guide - US House District 7, Democratic primary

Election is Tuesday, Aug. 18

Published: July 31, 2026 at 2:35 PM

“This story is part of a collaborative initiative of independent local news outlets working towards a more informed and engaged Central Florida.”

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.

Democratic U.S. House District 7 candidates

The Democratic U.S. House District 7 primary is open to all registered Democrats residing in District 7, which includes parts of Volusia and Seminole counties in Central Florida.

The primary will decide who represents the party in the November general election.

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 Oviedo Community News compiled the candidate responses for U.S. House District 7. Below is an excerpt of each candidate’s profile. To see the full responses, go to the Oviedo Community News candidate page link for each candidate.

You can also see the full Oviedo Community News Voting Guide HERE.

Bale Dalton

WEBSITE: baledalton.com/

Oviedo Community News Candidate Profile:

oviedocommunitynews.org/profile/bale-dalton/

Candidate Q&A: The questions below are based on voter questions and expressed priorities. Each of the candidates within a race were asked the same questions and given the same amount of time to respond. The candidates’ answers were fact checked, checked for spelling and grammar but otherwise unedited.

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

The No. 1 problem we need to address is Central Florida’s cost-of-living emergency. Making Florida affordable again requires reversing this administration’s illegal tariff taxes, repealing the health care premium hikes that Congressman Cory Mills voted for repeatedly and avoiding wars of choice that have sent our gas prices through the roof. We have also seen property insurers and utility providers hike their prices in the absence of any real competition. Tallahassee isn’t acting, so we need federal representatives who will provide real oversight. With housing prices going through the roof, I also support legislation to ban Wall Street from buying up homes, while investing in building. We need a wide-ranging affordability agenda, carried forward by representatives who will fight for hardworking families – not billionaires and special interests. That’s why I support cutting taxes for working people, not the ultra-wealthy.
Our current cost of living crisis is also rooted in DC corruption – as politicians sell out their constituents and cash in on inside information. Our current Congressman, Cory Mills, is currently being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for corruption, campaign finance violations and sexual misconduct. His corruption has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats. Tackling DC corruption starts with sending Rep. Mills packing, but it cannot end there. We need to place real penalties on politicians and insiders who get rich by betting against America and trading on insider information. This means banning Congressional stock trading, outlawing insiders and politicians from betting on prediction markets, and overturning Citizens United to reform our broken campaign finance system from the inside out.
Florida is facing a healthcare and retirement crisis at all levels. As mentioned, Congressman Mills has voted repeatedly to raise health insurance premiums on hardworking families by thousands of dollars every month. This is a crisis of Congress’s own making, and one of my first priorities would be reversing these premium hikes, along with the cuts to Medicaid Rep. Cory Mills voted for. Further action is needed, however, to protect Social Security and Medicare for seniors who have paid into these programs for all of their lives, and who deserve to retire with dignity. With these programs set to go bankrupt, we must eliminate tax loopholes which allow the ultra-wealthy to avoid paying into these programs. We need to shore up our insurance coverage at every level of the system to ensure that, in the richest country on Earth, no one is one ER visit away from bankruptcy.

For incumbents: Why do you deserve re-election to this race? For challengers and open seats: Why do you deserve to be elected in this race? I have spent my life in public service and leadership. As a Navy helicopter pilot and combat veteran, I deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Pacific – and worked with [Florida’s former] Sen. [Bill] Nelson to protect Florida veterans, and helped lead over 16,000 employees as the Chief of Staff at NASA. Serious times call for serious leaders, which Florida’s Seventh District has been sorely lacking. I was born and raised in Central Florida. It makes me furious to see my friends and neighbors struggling while Congressman Mills – a foreign arms dealer who’s been slapped with a restraining order – is bogged down with his own ethics investigations in DC. I’m in this race to tackle corruption and lower the cost of living for our community, and will fight every day to deliver a better deal for Central Florida.
According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say housing affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue? The median age of first-time home buyers rose to 40 years old last year for one simple reason: housing is too expensive. The sticker price of first-time-homes has skyrocketed, alongside HOA fees, high interest rates and rising property insurance costs. Addressing these challenges requires building more housing at all income levels – and banning Wall Street speculators from buying up homes, driving up the cost of housing across our neighborhoods. We also need to provide meaningful oversight into property insurers, who have been hiking rates with no return in service or coverage provided when storms do arrive. Congressman Cory Mills supports the tariffs that raise the cost of building more housing — I oppose those tariffs.
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 no on the governor’s proposal to slash property taxes. While I support tax relief for working families, this proposal would imperil our ability to fund public safety, maintain our roads, and prepare for storms. This proposal is irresponsible and should not be enacted into law.
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? We’ve seen far too often that when large energy users join the grid, they pass the cost onto ratepayers – which is absolutely unacceptable, especially with our utility costs from FPL and Duke Energy already through the roof. Costs should be shouldered by the new users consuming large amounts of electricity, and we must do more to lower energy costs and help hardworking families afford their utility bills.
What do you think is the biggest environmental issue the government should address in Florida? I was dismayed to see this administration propose opening Florida’s coast for offshore oil drilling. Florida’s coastline is a key driver of our local economy – and the test ranges off our coasts help power our military and space programs, to keep our nation secure. We must protect our coasts and public lands here in Florida, to ensure that the beautiful state we’re proud to call home is something we can pass along to the next generation.

Alan Grayson

WEBSITE: electgrayson.com/

Oviedo Community News Candidate Profile:

oviedocommunitynews.org/profile/alan-grayson/

Top problem and your suggested solution: The top problem is the looming Trump dictatorship. My suggested solution is to fight back by any means necessary, from impeachment to civil disobedience. “Name and shame.”
Problem 2 and your suggested solution: The second most-pressing problem is the cost of living, caused in large part by Trump. Most people feel caught in a rat race that they just can’t win. But there are numerous rational solutions. We should eliminate all taxes on driving, right down to the tax on driver’s licenses. There should be no federal income tax on households making less than $50,000, which is a bill that I wrote when I was in Congress. Healthcare costs are crushing people, and the solution is Medicare for All. (I also wrote a law to do that.) The cost of owning and keeping a home is skyrocketing. One solution, for Florida, would be to extend national flood insurance to cover hurricanes and storms (another law that I wrote). Another solution would be to allow everyone to refinance mortgages through the state at 1.5% lower interest rates. There is such a program, and only 0.1% of Florida homeowners use it. Another solution would be to increase the national minimum wage, which is lower now (adjusted for inflation) than it was in 1968. If it had kept up with productivity, it would be $20 or more per hour now. In other words, I am in favor of rational thought to solve national (and local) problems.
Problem 3 and your suggested solution: We are not doing enough to invest in future generations. Every child should be able to see a doctor when he or she is sick, and get all the care that’s needed to be the best that he or she can be. In other words, Medicare should cover everyone until 18. The cost is minimal, because most children are healthy. We need to get children off their phones and paying attention in class. We need to make special effort to meet special needs. We need to teach more subjects that are germane to living, like how to find a job and how to pay your taxes and how to stay healthy, in lieu of the details of European history. Schooling has to recognize that each child is a unique bundle of talents, skills, capabilities and limitations, each one on a different arc through life, and school should bring out the best in each one. We need to improve pre-K childcare dramatically, and subsidize it in the same way that we do for K-12 children. One reason why younger people are having far fewer children is that they just can’t afford it. That has to change.
For incumbents: Why do you deserve re-election to this race? For challengers and open seats: Why do you deserve to be elected in this race? Because I will do the job best.
According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say housing affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue? As I said, the cost of owning and keeping a home is skyrocketing. One solution, for Florida, would be to extend national flood insurance to cover hurricanes and storms (a law that I wrote). Another solution would be to allow everyone to refinance mortgages through the state at 1.5% lower interest rates. There is such a program, and only 0.1% of FL homeowners use it. On a typical mortgage balance of $350,000, that would save more than $5000 per year. The insurer of last resort, “Citizens,” is a disgrace, and it should be prohibited from operating at a profit at our expense. Regarding renters, the federal government rations its programs to extend federal credit for building apartments by not appropriating money for them, and these programs should be expanded substantially. Renters actually pay more in property taxes, indirectly, than homeowners do, and to be fair, there should be the equivalent of a “homestead exemption” for renters.
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? We should do whatever people want to do. If people decide, collectively and through legal means, that property taxes need to be cut, that is democracy in action. As to how to make it up, I would be against service reductions, because state services generally are already miserable.
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? Data centers will require a substantial expansion of utilities, and the data centers should bear the cost of that themselves. If capacity is expanded, then there is no justification for any price increase to anyone else. The real problem with utility prices is the complete collapse of state regulation in Florida. If Florida had a properly functioning Public Service Commission, then this wouldn’t be the same kind of problem. There still would be the huge problem of massive fuel cost increases due to errors at the top, but that’s the price we all are paying.
What do you think is the biggest environmental issue the government should address in Florida? I don’t think that there is a “biggest” issue. The government is responsible for clean air, clean water and clean food. It also is responsible for minimizing pollution, and punishing [violators] when appropriate. It also is responsible for respecting and preserving nature, and protecting recreation. And the only opportunity that we have to reduce climate chaos is through government action. As the saying goes, “there is no Planet B.”

Marialana Kinter

WEBSITE: www.kinterforcongress.com/

Oviedo Community News Candidate Profile:

oviedocommunitynews.org/profile/marialana-kinter/

Top problem and your suggested solution: The cost of living. Combating the economic squeeze our working class is facing by investing in American trade jobs, strengthening Social Security, expanding voluntary full-day pre-K options, and breaking up the corporate monopolies driving small businesses under.
Problem 2 and your suggested solution: Restoring government accountability. Corruption and corporate capture have made the government unresponsive to the people. I am bringing a “Zero-Fail” standard to Washington, which includes term limits, a ban on congressional stock trading and an aggressive effort to overturn Citizens United to get big money out of politics.
Problem 3 and your suggested solution: Stopping overdevelopment and data centers. The housing crisis is driven by corporate investors and a lack of supply for working families. I will sponsor the Stop Predatory Investing Act to ban hedge funds from buying single-family homes, and I support increasing federal investment in the National Housing Trust Fund to expand rental assistance and incentivize the construction of affordable starter homes for primary residents.
For incumbents: Why do you deserve re-election to this race? For challengers and open seats: Why do you deserve to be elected in this race? I am not a career politician. I am a Navy veteran and a working class advocate. I have spent my life overcoming the same obstacles as the people of FL-07, from the foster system to the nuclear reactor plant, and I know that true leadership requires accountability. I am beholden to the people, not corporate PACs. We deserve a representative that works from sunrise to sunset to deliver results and improve the conditions of the lives of Floridians.
According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say housing affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue? Beyond local zoning, this is a national failure. I support federal legislation to prevent corporate entities from monopolizing the single-family home market. We must prioritize a federal reinsurance backstop to stabilize the homeowners insurance market, stop corporate entities from buying up residential property and invest in union and trade jobs to grow our local economy.
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 am generally skeptical of slashing property taxes through state-level constitutional amendments if they are not paired with a sustainable plan to protect essential services like public schools and first responders. I would need to see the specific language to ensure it does not unfairly shift the tax burden onto renters and first-time homebuyers.
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? We cannot allow big tech energy-intensive data centers to hike the electric bills of our families. Regulators must require data centers to pay their full, uncapped share of infrastructure costs and meet strict sustainability mandates so their energy demand does not degrade service or raise prices for the public. I support a moratorium on data centers to stop building and a complete ban of building on protected natural spaces until a complete and thorough investigation and study of the environmental and economic impacts is conducted.
What do you think is the biggest environmental issue the government should address in Florida? Water security, quality and protecting the rural boundary are the most pressing issues. Our aquifers and springs are under constant pressure from overdevelopment and pollution, and protecting our natural resources is a necessity for Florida’s long-term economic and human survival. I will fight to protect the rural boundary through federal incentives that make our nature preserves and green spaces protected on a federal level to prevent industrial and developer encroachment.