Race Analysis: Florida House District 71

In the Florida House District 71 race, incumbent Republican Will Robinson faces a challenge from Democrat and environmental activist Andy Mele.

This is a very straightforward race, featuring two very different candidates. Incumbent Will Robinson is a partner with the Blalock Walters law firm, serves on the Manatee Chamber Board of Directors, and formerly served as the Chair of Meals on Wheels Plus of Manatee. Robinson is a competent legislator with deep ties to the local community. Elected in 2018, he has been a reliable vote for the RPOF’s platform and his candidacy in this race represents a vote for the status quo in Tallahassee.

Mele, who holds a master's degree in environmental science, served as the Suncoast Waterkeeper and then the organization’s executive director. He has long been involved in environmental issues, particularly those associated with clean water. Manatee County residents have continued to see their community’s environmental resources degraded by short-sided state-level decisions driven by special interest money from politically-powerful, deep-pocketed developers, and Mele wants to go to Tallahassee to be a voice against such pilfering of our critical resources.

The Republican Party has long dominated all three branches of our state’s government, and no matter where you stand politically, one of the byproducts of that dynamic has been the constant winding down of regulations meant to protect critical resources like drinking water, wetland buffers, and permeable surfaces that return rainwater to the aquifer. District 71 is a red district, so Mele will have his work cut out for him, especially in running against someone with a name familiar to most voters.

What those Republicans have to ask themselves is whether more is gained by having yet another party-line vote for an agenda that is going to pass anyway, than in having an opposition voice in the war that’s being waged on our state’s environmental resources. There are many Republicans who are opposed to the wreckless, incoherent growth and development practices that have become the norm, along with the water quality issues that have been exacerbated by short-sided mining and agricultural practices. They need to come to grips with the reality that the financial dynamics of state politics all but assure that they simply aren’t going to get effective legislation on those issues from the Republican Party and will have to look to the opposition if they want such issues to gain a meaningful voice.

Partisans on both sides will likely vote for their party’s candidate in this race. But anyone who sees the protection of our waters and other critical environmental resources as among the most pressing issues facing Manatee County, must take a good look at Mele and ask whether it would not be of value to have him giving voice to those issues on our community’s behalf.