Race to represent District 23 in the State House of Representatives

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) - Two very different candidates are on the ballot for the District 23 seat in the State House of Representatives.

One has Several years of political experience and the other is entering the arena for the first time.

Voters will chose between incumbent Stan McClain and newcomer Cynthia Dela Rosa to represent them in District 23.

McClain has served for two terms as the representative of District 23 and has previously served on the Board of County Commissioners in Marion County.

Some of the issues he is advocating for are protecting Florida’s natural springs and aquifers and education.

“One of the big areas that we’ve worked in over the past four years, I’ve been on the Pre-K through 12 Appropriations Subcommittee and so we hear a lot of educational things that come through there so we’d like to continue that work. We money aside last year for teacher raises, our funding for schools continues to increase every year so we’re proud of those things and we want to continue doing that,” McClain said.

If re-elected, McClain said he wants to continue advocating for the people of the county.

“I’ve represented the citizens of Marion County for quite some time. I’m going to continue to be the voice that I’ve told them that I’ll be. We’re always going to be for less government, look for ways to reduce taxes, look for ways to increase the ability for families to make a living, earn a living if you will and to be able to know that they’re safe and secure in the community that we live in,” he added.

Dela Rosa has lived in Ocala since she was a child and graduated from the University of Florida, earning a degree in Psychology.

She said one of the main reasons why she wanted to run is make sure constituents voices are heard.

“For the last two years we have really worked on building a coalition of local leaders and coalition building, making sure that the people in the community know that we are there to serve them. We’ve spent the last two years being servants in the community and I really look forward to being a servant later in Tallahassee and we’ve already shown that we are going to be here for the people and we’re going to make sure our legislation reflects that,” Dela Rosa said.

Education, and the environment are also issues that Dela Rosa said she’s passionate about.

“Since we have Silver Springs and the Ocala National Forest and the First Magnitude Spring in the district, creating jobs that revolve around making sure the the environment is remaining clean, so implementing a green new deal in the state of Florida is going to be a priority,” she added.

Copyright 2020 WCJB. All rights reserved.