 our association, I welcome all of you here tonight and all of you watching from home. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you to our candidates for being here. I'm Jessica Palumbo. I am the editor of Jacksonville Today. You might have heard about tonight's forum from our newsletter. If you haven't, I welcome you to sign up for our daily email at jackstoday.org. That's J-A-X today.org. Now onto the forum. The new District 14 covers a big part of Duval County, including much of the north side, Arlington Empire Point, Newtown, downtown, the east side, Brooklyn, the list goes on. The candidates who will appear on the August 23rd ballot are all Democrats and they're all represented here tonight. The other candidate in this race is a write-in candidate, which closes the voting in District 14 to register Democrats. Now before we get started, our co-host for the evening is the Jacksonville Bar Association, so I welcome to this stage, Asghar Syed with the Board of Governors. Thank you, Jessica. And thank you all so much for being here this evening. I want to thank our esteemed candidates. Thank you so much for being out here for making time. My name is Asghar Syed. I'm an attorney here in town and I serve on the Board of Governors of the Jacksonville Bar Association. I want to say on behalf of the JBA, we're thrilled to be partnering with Jax today on this program and on programs in the future. Have a great evening and good luck, y'all. Thank you, Asghar. And for our forum this evening, candidates will have approximately two minutes to respond to the questions from our moderator, Rick Anderson of Jacksonville Today. Without further ado, here is Rick. Well thank you, Jessica, and thank you to everyone who's here tonight. Let's get right to it, shall we? We'd like to briefly introduce the candidates and then invite them to tell us a little bit more about themselves. Kimberly Daniels is a former at-large city council member elected in 2011 and a former state representative elected in 2016. She's also a pastor at Rayma Way City Church and an Army veteran. Ms. Daniels was set to participate tonight, but unfortunately she has COVID. We're hoping she would be able to participate remotely, but she isn't feeling well enough. We wish her a speedy recovery and we invite her representative, Linda Pritchett, up to say a few words about her campaign. Good evening. My name is Linda Pritchett and I am an 18-year certified paralegal from Georgia, but this evening I'm here to represent Kimberly Daniels. Kimberly Daniels is a community leader, a public servant, and has been serving this district for over 50 years. She served her country as a Desert Storm veteran in the Army. She has also served as the first African-American female Democrat to win a countywide, citywide position as a commissioner, and she's also served as state representative in District 14. Kimberly Daniels is a mother, a wife, a pastor who always addresses the concerns and the needs of the people. Kimberly Daniels also is the only candidate that has ever served in a legislative capacity and has passed legislation and appropriations for the community that has bought millions of dollars for public safety, gun violence initiatives, and comprehensive criminal justice reform packages, as many of her other accomplishments. Today we face issues with rent increases, utilities going up, the gas prices going up, and just so many quality of life issues, but Kimberly Daniels is the only candidate with a track record that demonstrates that she can get the job done. Kimberly Daniels wanted me to let you know that she feels that tonight on this stage you have many well-qualified candidates, good people that are on the ballot, but she also wants you to know that Kimberly Daniels is the best choice and she is the candidate that brings representation with results. So on August 23rd, I would like to ask you to vote for Kimberly Daniels, and early voting begins on Monday, August the 8th. Thank you. Thank you, Linda. And now to introduce our candidates on stage, continuing alphabetical order. Garrett Dennis has represented District 9 on the Jacksonville City Council since 2015, after serving more than a decade in the Duvall Supervisor of Elections Office. He owns a construction company and a restaurant. Iris Hinton has helped lead efforts to clean up and protect the neighborhoods surrounding the Fairfax Street Wood Treaters Superfund site, which was contaminated by arsenic-based industrial materials. Northside native Minci Pollock has served on boards, including the Jack's Chambers and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Community Engagement Task Force. He owns an insurance agency and is currently pursuing an Executive Master's Degree in Public Policy from Jacksonville University. So thank you, candidates, and we'd like to invite you to tell us a little bit more about yourselves, starting with you, Mr. Dennis. Thank you. Good morning. Good evening. First of all, I want to thank the Jacksonville Bar Association, Jack's Today, as well as WJCT for hosting this forum tonight. It's an opportunity for the constituents of District 14 to get an opportunity to see the various candidates. So I really appreciate that. Also I want to send a prayer up and encouragement to the candidate that is not here tonight, Kimberly Daniels. Like you said, she's suffering from COVID-19, so our prayers are with her tonight, and we look forward to seeing her on the campaign trail. But I am Garrett Dennis. I'm currently a councilman representing District 9. I'm a native of Jacksonville, went to Rebalt High School, went to Florida A&M University, and when I had an opportunity to go anywhere in this country, I decided to come back home to raise my family. I'm married, have two kids, a son, he's a senior at the University of Florida. A daughter's going to the seventh grade. And so tonight, I ask you to pay close attention to the candidates up here and make a decision on the candidate that you want to send to Tallahassee. Again, I'm Garrett Dennis, candidate for State House District 14. Thank you, sir, Ms. Hinton. Okay, good afternoon, good afternoon. I'm very happy to be here and my prayers go up for Kim and Daniels. And I'm also want to thank the Bar Association for having me out here. And just to tell you a little bit about myself, I am a very strong actress in the city of Jacksonville. I have been since the blotchy at home, but my history go way back, but I don't like to talk about it too much. A person that really, really care about what's going on in our community and are ready to see our community move forward, make changes, and not make promises. We are in a lot of trouble with rent inflation period. But what can we do? We, myself, and all of a sudden, we need you and everyone to help make this move forward to a change in the city of Jacksonville. It's very important that we do this. I'm going to tell you a little bit, and again, I'm not married, but I have sons, two sons, and I've lost one son to violence. So that is another issue that I will continue to address. And I'm looking to be, represent and give this city my very best, not 1%, 100%, to take us to the next level, or where we should be. We so far behind, but it's now time for Jacksonville to move forward fast and just get it done. Thank you. Thank you. All right, thanks so much. First of all, again, I want to thank Jacksonville today and the Bar Association for putting this on, giving us such a good platform to be able to share with everyone what's passionate for all of us. I'm Nancy Pollack, your candidate for Florida House District 14. And I guess I like to say, I guess I'm one of what they call the last bohegans with Jacksonville being one of the 13th fastest growing cities in the country. You talk to folks and it's hard to find someone born and raised right here in Jacksonville. And that's me. I went to grade school at St. Pius. There's some strong, hard sacrifice by my grandmother, you know, footing that bull for that tuition. And I graduated from John Rebaugh High School and from Edward Waters College. It was college when I was there, now proud to say university and current and public policy student at Jacksonville University. You know, all my life, I've been passionate about being a public servant. I've been serving all my life. And whether it was a nonprofit sector or in faith-based places, when I would serve, I would always find that sometimes in these nonprofit sectors, there'd be limitations. You know, whether it's the grand ends or whether it might mean that there's a certain certain time period for dinner. And there was a part of my life where I realized that to have systemic long-term change, we needed to affect public policy. I had a conversation with my wife, I've been married now 20 years, and I said, maybe it's time for us to change, to make something happen, make a difference. We've got all adult children, I've got two grandkids and a grand dog. And I said, I don't want to be a part of the problem. I want to be a part of the solution. And that's why I'm sitting on this stage, to be that solution for you and tell us. Thank you, candidates. So now let's move on to our questions. Ms. Hinton, let's ask you this first. Something you mentioned in your opening remarks. We hear from many readers who are facing rent increases that they can't afford. How should the state of Florida help keep housing affordable? First of all, we really need to do the research and see how we got in this situation. Because it has to be something in the past that will help us not pay attention to the upcoming to the inflation. And I think during the COVID, when we had the COVID here, in fact, it made a lot of difference in where we are right now. So to address that, we need to look at the state. How the state can really sit down and enforce laws, rules, and regulations to make the change to cap increase. It's something that we all need to sit down and talk about and address. It's just not a one person issue here. It's an issue that has to be addressed and we need to sit down and address it. Mr. Pollack, same question. What can the state of Florida do about this? It's extremely important caution and is one that I can really radiate with. We're here on the stage now and again, I pray for Kim as well. And I had heard that there's a candidate to say, she's one that says that she's the only candidate that actually lives in the district. And I thought that's pretty interesting because as you asked a question about affordable housing, for me, I'll be fully transparent because I want you viewers to know me, I didn't move out of the district by choice. I had to move out of the district by force. There was a housing boom a while back and right around 2010 and 12, I was involved in real estate. We had a beautiful home, but we owned lots of properties and all of a sudden the market changed. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. And my solution then was that I had a friend that was an investor that had a property and he gave us a safe refuge for me and my family. And we were able to go there and stay. And that was the answer for me, but it was one of the most scariest times. And that's what Floridians are facing right now. I can relate to the scary times that they're definitely facing right now, because I've been there and we've got to treat this like the crisis that it really is, like a triage and the trauma situation. We've got to face it right in here. We've got to see if we can get those down that have the authority to to see about what they can do now for more rent release, relief and moratoriums. That's phase one, but this is a triage. When I get to Tallahassee, I want to take a look at the Sadowski Fund. It was a fund that was rated. It was a fund that was set aside for times like this to add subsidy and rent relief for people. And we want to take a look at that for some reform so that we can make sure that funds like that exist. Not only that exists, but every county in Florida has the proper funding allocated for all of the different counties. But to also make sure that it has a source to continue to stay funded. These are the things that we got to think about from a legislative point. So people are not afraid like me and my family were or they're not having to worry about it. I don't want anybody forced to go anywhere. I wanted it to be a choice. All ferrillions deserve the right for prosperity and the healthier, safer quality of life period. Thank you, sir. Mr. Dennis. Thank you for that question. It is a very complex question and it's gonna have a complex solution. One of the first things that I would do when I get to Tallahassee is to encourage the governor along with the members of the House and the Senate to declare a housing emergency. To declare an emergency because we are in a state of emergency, point blanking period. That's number one. Number two, we need to have serious insurance reform. Let me tell you what's happening. The insurance rates are going up and up and up and up. When the insurance rates are going up, if you are a landlord, just is going to absorb that cost. It's not going to be the landlord. The landlord is going to push those costs over to the tenant. So we need to have true insurance reform. And one of the things we can do with insurance reform, we can beef up the safety net citizens insurance agency that's right now is canceling policies all over the state. Matter of fact, just this week I had a meetup, a meet and greet at a residence house in the district. And the topic at that meetup, at that meet and greet was that in those homes in Springfield, they're being canceled left and right by the insurance companies. Now these are homeowners, but guess what's happening to the landlords who are renting property? So it is definitely a very complex issue. But like I said, as soon as I get to Tallahassee, I will reach out to my colleagues in the house and the Senate and to the governor's office and let them know that we need to declare a state of emergency as it relates to housing, rent, affordability across the board. We have to do something. We have to do something now. Thank you, candidates. Mr. Pollock, this question for you and it's related. At the same time, people are facing these rent increases. Many property owners have seen increases in their insurance. What further changes, if any, should be made to the property insurance regulation? That's a great question. As you mentioned earlier, one of the businesses I own is an insurance firm. We do everything from health insurance to property and I've heard the cries. I've talked to some of our members that have called in and said, Menci, they won't renew. Menci, can you find me a policy that will protect my home? I need to do this, and the offering that they give me makes me not be able to afford my mortgage. That's real, and I see it every day. I'm here, I'm an experienced insurance person, so it's easier for me to advocate and be able to understand that language. One of the things that people don't realize, if you look at the state of Florida, for instance, 10 to 12% of all policies exist here, but without population in the US, that makes sense. But what people don't realize is that over 70% of litigation against claims happen in Florida. We're a litigation, you know, bar association. We know that we've got to make sure that we're protecting our home owners, and so we've got to find a happy medium, a way that we can make it attractive for other insurance companies to come to our market. You know, as we were saying, that citizens, our pseudo insurance company becomes the only choice, but if we can make it more friendly for other insurance companies that come here, we can have a competitive market, and then home owners will have the ability to make choices, all about choices, and then they can have affordable policies and be able to stay in their homes and, you know, have that peace that they need. All right. Mr. Dennis, your thoughts on how to resolve this home insurance crisis? That's a very, very, very good question. And it's an issue here in our state, in our city. The first thing that I want to let you all know that I'm not in the insurance field, so, you know, I will not be voting when I cast a vote in the state legislature. I will not be thinking about my pocket in supporting the insurance company. I'll be voting to support the everyday individuals who live here in our state. It's all about the quality of life. One of the things that insurance companies that they're doing here in our state, and they've been lobbying very well, you have insurance company that will only want to write for auto insurance, you know, but they don't want to write insurance for home owner insurance. So they're cherry picking who they want to write for and what policies they want to write for. One of the things that we can do is force insurance companies. If you're going to write insurance policy for auto insurance, you also have to write insurance policy for home owner's insurance. Why is that so important? Because you get a multi-line discount when you, when you, when a home owner or individual is buying insurance and they can buy all the insurance from one carrier. That brings down the cost. Not only does that bring down the cost, that will again support, helps financially support those insurance companies. And again, you know, I support the Bar Association and attorneys because they're the ones that's out there standing up for the average day citizens because I hear over and over, as a general contractor, I hear over and over and over where insurance companies do not want to pay the claim of a loss where that home owner or that client has been paying for years and years and years. Matter of fact, I was on a phone today with a private adjuster where a home owner has a claim and the insurance company does not want to pay the claim and that is wrong. That home owner has been paying their premium every month for the past 10 years. So again, we need to crack down on insurance companies and look out for the average citizens here in our state and ultimately in our county. Thank you, sir. And Ms. Hinton, a same question. Same question. And I was thinking about it today. So again, I believe in policies, rules and regulations. And I think that the insurance should be held allowable for not, for not doing due diligence towards the client. Simply because they pay all year, they pay. So when it comes to a claim, it's just so many people hands in there, in this claim you got the insurance, the policy holder and you got the person, the risk management person. So they have to go through all these entities. So if we can go back to the table, sit down with the insurance company and let them know laws and policy. But first of all, what are they laws and their policy? Why won't they pay the claim? So it's something that we all need to sit down and look at it because it's red tape everywhere. And now our people in this community everywhere is suffering, you got too much. They got worry about food, gas, daycare, health, contaminated water. What more can we take as a people? We need someone to represent us and then we need to look in and study the laws and research and see the laws and policy. How do people become insurance persons anyway? So that is something that we need to look into and not be afraid to suggest and maybe we need to look outside somewhere and bring someone inside this community that would help us on this problem. Thank you. Mr. Dennis, we'll swing back over to you for this one. Florida has an abortion ban starting at 15 weeks of gestation. After the reversal of Roe versus Wade, would you support changing Florida law to protect reproductive freedom or further restrict abortion? Thank you for that. And it's so unfortunate of the reversal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. Let me be clear. I support a woman's right to choose. Under no circumstances, no vote will I ever vote against a woman's right or anyone's right for their body. I think government need to stay out of it and it's a shame on the Supreme Court for their decision a few weeks ago. And if there's a vote that comes before the house while I'm there, I will unequivocally vote against any other restrictions to abortions. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Hinton. Same here. Every woman, every woman, no matter what, who she is, what she is, what color, nothing. She has a right to make her own decisions. And I don't think I have the right and I won't vote in the father on that is to say it's the right of the woman. She knows what's best for her. Whatever went on in her situation, her life, we're on the outside and we can't judge people. This is the United States of America. Why are we judging people? People are people. So I won't be part of taking the Romans right. She has the right, it is her God given right. You're so right. Thank you and Mr. Pollock. It's very easy for me. I absolutely would not bring forth any restrictions. I totally agree with the folks that have been here on the stage with me and that the women have their right. Earlier I had said that part of the reason that I got into this journey was because I realized to have long-term systemic change, we have to affect it at a public policy level, long term. You're talking 1973 and now we're looking at 2022. The Supreme Court up there playing UNO. Got a reversal card. When I get a teleassay, I'm gonna pull through the deck and get me a reversal card because I want women to be able to have that right for choice and nothing stopping them whatsoever. I've got a wife and a daughter and I understand. I want anybody making decisions for them, for my grandbaby. I want anybody making decisions for them. That was put in place so women could have their privacy for a medical procedure and government has no business in a woman's choice. I'll take it a step further. Jack's today, you got some sharp good articles and I'm reading Dylan. I hadn't found and I looked real hard. I don't, I can't find any legislation that tells a man what to do with your body. Thank you so much. Ms. Hinton, after Congress passed bipartisan legislation on guns this year, would you support any other changes to gun laws in Florida? I read some of the changes and what I would like to see for is gun law and the change in maybe the, is the permit. I think a person who owned a gun, they need to have a permit to care, you need to have a permit to carry a gun. That's very important. The reason why I say that because if it gets stolen, it's using in crime or whatever, then that gun owner, it can be traced back. We can't be liking on rules that won't make our community more safe, more safe. And the way the gun violence here in the city and all over, there should be a law to continue to have everyone have a permit. And another one that I was thinking about is walking, carrying your gun on your side or carrying your gun. Well, I have some issues about that because the way the site is today and we have mental illness today, we have so much trouble in our community. Our person will want to see persons walking around with a gun. It's not safe. Matter of fact, you can't even drive a car in this city. You get up onto somebody, they throw the frame up on you, you change the lanes, they forget what they want and they want to go chase after you. So what's the difference than a car and a gun? It's much different because neither one you don't think, you just act. So I like some of the laws is okay, but those two that I really have problem with. Thank you, thank you ma'am, I had to catch you off there. Mr. Pollock, do you support any changes in gun laws in Florida? First of all, I'm super excited that the federal government passed the legislation. It's been something that was overdue. I do carry a concealed weapons permit and not a full transparency. I used to be that person that was like, oh, I don't need a gun, nobody needs a gun. The angels would just protect me until that one late night I was working, I was attacked outside of my office. That was a wake up call for me. I went and took some lessons. I went and I got my concealed weapons permit and I stand with people that believe and I agree that we all deserve the right to be able to bear arms. But something the federal court did was talk about assault weapons. Just like I don't think that somebody needs a rocket launcher or a tank, I don't think that individual sentences need assault weapons. I want our state and our city to be safe. I want people to continue to move here. I want people to continue to travel here. I want our schools protected, our malls protected, our entertainment facilities protected. And so I think that good people with a good gun do good things and sometimes bad people make bad choices. So we're gonna have to make sure that we're looking at making sure folks are confident, that they're mentally well and that we're putting guns in the hands of those of the good people. Thank you. And Councilman, your thoughts on this. Thank you. I'll make this simple. I will vote against any assault rifles. I think there should be an absolute band on assault rifles here in our state, period. As a, our family was struck with violence with an assault rifle. And until it hits home, you know, you really don't know the magnitude in which it affects a family, affects a community. I represented, I represent District 9. And matter of fact, a family member was killed with an assault rifle right in Eureka Gardens, Valencia Way just a year ago, family member. I saw the effects of assault rifles in our community. And when I go to Tallahassee, if legislation comes before me banning assault rifles, I will vote for that ban every single time. Thank you. We'll continue in alphabetical order here, Mr. Pollock. This is your question now. Florida has medical marijuana. What's your position on legalizing it for recreational use? That's an interesting question. You must have talked to Rick Mulaney over at JU, because my capstone project is the legalization of marijuana for Florida. Interesting that you say that. I think it's time that we take a real look at the legalization of marijuana for Florida. There was a recent study done, a bipartisan study that said over 70% support legalization of marijuana, regardless of the party. A lot of research and stuff has been, a lot of research and science has been behind the effects of marijuana. Thus, why Florida has medical marijuana. 19 other states have chosen to take a look at this and do it, and in their states, they're experiencing a surplus. In some situations, their states are trying to figure out what to do with all this extra money. And I would say that that would be a great opportunity for Florida as we look at bouncing back from COVID and the possible deficit that our state could possibly be in, having an additional source of revenue, like the legalization of marijuana is something that is worth exploring. If you look at criminal reform as well, as you take a look at the legalization of marijuana, our jails, our prisons are filled with people that shouldn't necessarily be there, charged with things of intent to sell for ounces of marijuana when that shouldn't be the case. We lose millions of dollars every year out of our state for arrest and for housing people who shouldn't be there. So I look at that at going to stay, going to Tallahassee and taking a look at legalization of marijuana and the positive effects that it could possibly have for our state to follow. Mr. Dennis, is that something that you would consider supporting as well? Yeah, I'm like Mr. Pollock, I think you all were probably reading my career on city council several times I ran a bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana here in our city. It wasn't successful, but when I get to Tallahassee, I plan on taking it to the state. And let me go a little further. Marijuana usage between minorities and non-minorities are equal, but minorities, they're arrested more than non-minorities as it relates to marijuana. Not only that, we're talking about the economic issue. The economic issue, we're talking about crime issue. When a police officer pulls someone over, whether it's marijuana, we're talking about marijuana, it takes a police officer off the street for four hours when they can be out fighting real crime. Over the past three years we've been dealing with or two years we've been dealing with COVID. A lot of people, what they're doing now, there's a lot of mental health issues and a lot of people are self-medicating themselves with marijuana. I think that this state is long overdue with reforming the use of marijuana. Not only that, quite a few state attorneys, they've stopped prosecuting marijuana cases, small amount of marijuana cases. Why? Because hemp and marijuana smells the same. They're the same bud, for lack of a better term. And unless you have kids to actually test them to know is marijuana instead of hemp, there's no way to prosecute. So I think now is the time to reform the uses of marijuana in our state. Again, it's about moving forward. And I had lunch with a group of citizens today and we were talking about Jackson about how Jackson will have evolved. And I started talking about my good friend, late Tommy Hazuri and started talking about my late friend, former mayor. I may ask you to expedite this story a little bit, sir. Sorry. Mayor Jake Cabo. And one of the things Mayor Jake Cabo used to always say is that a stagnant city is a dead city. A stagnant state is a dead state. We gotta keep moving. And one of the ways we can move the state forward is to legalize the use of marijuana. Thank you. Ms. Hinton. Yes. Excuse me. This is, okay, for the revenues, bring money into the city, moving forward. Yes. But my only issue with that recreation is the chemicals that are in the marijuana. Is it healthy? Is it safe for all our children because they're gonna be working with it. They are already working with it now. So my concern, and I just wanted to look up the THC, which you got the CBC and the CBC that they put in that marijuana, give you a high, a real high. So we need to control it. And then again, we need to look at the health of the future of our children, cause any delays in their brains or whatever. Everything to me, you need rules, regulation, and health. When you got your health, you could do about anything. But when you see people now in 3-2-2-9 and 3-2-2-8, we have a lot of males and females walking around spaced out. And I'm saying to myself, what are they on? So it has its good and it has its bad. So for me to go forward on it, I would want to see the research, what it does truly, and the economic advantage, the money that will come with it. With the helpers, with the helpers really grow, a way to cause us to have more problems. Thank you so much. Mr. Dennis, we're back to you. Which Jacksonville projects would you push to get state funding for? That's a very, very question. There are so many projects. There are so many needs here in our city. I truly believe that we need a thriving downtown. And one of the things that I will push for, I will push for more funding as it relates to affordable housing. Mr. Pollack mentioned earlier about the Sadauski Fund. The Sadauski Fund generates about a half a billion dollars a year. And this year, the state legislature gutted and only allocated $100 million for the entire state. Let me tell you what that does. There's two pots of that money, but some of that money can help build affordable housing, affordable apartments. So I will be geared and focus on legislation to increase the affordable housing stock. And I just want to give one last statistic. When I came into office in 2015, there were 10,000 people on the waiting list for a section eight voucher. About four weeks ago, Jackson Housing Authority announced that there's 84,000 people on the section eight voucher waiting list. So that lets you know that we're in a crisis. And so I will be introducing legislation and fighting for bringing more dollars back to combat affordable housing here in our city. Thank you. And Ms. Hinton, what would be your priority projects? One of my priority project is always the environment. The environment. This city still has, have not addressed contamination sites. And they've been here too long. So before we can get full of our houses, we need to get clean land, clean water, then affordable houses. That issue is one is long overdue. I will be pushing, let's get this contamination clean up in the city of Jacksonville, especially on the north side. We can't move forward because from generation to generation, we got a high rate of council, Fairfax, Hilltop, Mary McClellan with them, we're trying to deal with now. So where is this council coming from? So I want to address that. I mean, address it, not only address it, move on it, take it to the state of Florida, take it to Washington if I have to, and say this is the emergency that we must clean up these contamination sites. We must get the old gas tanks out of our city and out of our ground because it's affecting our ground water. And you've got a problem with the substrate tank. I will be looking at that. That's a long overdue. I'm more concerned about before we can have a better anything in Jacksonville, we need a better health and work towards the getting that done and moving these dead issues out our way and go move forward. Thank you. Mr. Pollack, you can snap your fingers in Tallahassee and get three, four, five projects for Jacksonville. What would they be? I'll be affordable housing. Let's get it. Education, let's get it. Let's make sure everybody thinks fully funded. For me, and I'll be clear to you on the health insurance thing, so I won't be deemed as an insurance company. I'm a broker, which means I take a look at all the different options for my members. And so one of the benefits of being a broker in the space of healthcare, you get an opportunity to educate, do awareness, and then give them excess. I mean, just before Affordable Care Act was here, we had over 150,000 uninsured and through private public partnerships with nonprofits like Agape and Epilepsy Foundation and Roll America, we were able to get those numbers down to like 40,000 people and members. So we took that crisis and helped in healthcare, but since that period on the one side of the Affordable Care Act, our numbers are through the roof again. We still have millions of people uninsured in the state of Florida. I take my experience in that space and work toward making health insurance available for all. One of the ways that we can work in that space is in a Medicaid expansion or Medicaid reform. We still see in our state five billion, would it be, back to DC because we don't accept that. And the benefit of Medicaid expansion goes beyond the main user, which is our children between that zero to 18, right? But now that group of folks that use Medicaid is now being challenged because our youth are facing more mental wellness issues. So because they're facing that and where the rates are now with Medicaid, it's not enough to be able to come back to issues facing our young people in that area of mental space. I'm the only candidate that's been in the race that led a Medicaid expansion initiative before. I've been there, I'll go back and finish the work that we started to make sure that everybody in Florida can have quality healthcare. Thank you so much. So Ms. Hinton, we're back to you to start this question. What legislation is your priority to introduce? So not just projects, not just capital improvements or something like that, but any type of legislation. And how would you work across the political aisle to accomplish it? One thing I would like to introduce to my counterpart would be addressing unserved communities and move forward, not just dressing it, let's do it. Because they've been studied, you've been dressing it, but now I want to see a real program and introduce to the illustrator that we must address the unserved community, educational, health, jobs. This is a must in order to stop what I would like to see a generation of people change the next generation so they won't have to go through all this negative that is going on now. Our children deserve better. And all the way our children gonna have better is that we have to do better. We have to make the laws, force the laws, and even argue with it. I'd say go to Dennis, excuse me, Dennis. If I go to Dennis and I have an issue, I want to be able to have a meeting and we don't leave it until we stop it. This is what I see, the connect. We all have to connect because none of us are perfect. None of us, and that is what I would do. Work hard to make sure it's done before I leave office. Well, thank you so much. Mr. Pollock, same question. Would you mind repeating a question, please? Certainly. What legislation is your priority to introduce? So not just a capital improvement project, not just something maybe specifically related to Jacksonville, but overall legislation, what would be your priority? And how would you work across the political aisle to get it to the finish line? Great question, thanks for repeating that. For me, one of the things that stimulate our state is economic development and one of the ways that that happens is through workforce development. And so for me, it would be from the standpoint of projects derived around designing workforce programs that lead with public-private partnerships and early intervention in schools. One of the reasons that we're doing the fastest-growing states and in particular, our area alone has been because of fintech and because of healthcare. So as a government affairs wrapping committee for Jack's Chamber, we get an opportunity to travel to other cities and look at models that work. And that has given me the experience of the ability to be able to have those conversations. You talk about working across the aisles, well, often tell people one of the probably most overused words, I think, in politics is fight. I'm gonna fight for this and I'm gonna fight for that. I tell you, if I went home and told my wife, I'm on the way home because I wanna fight. And I probably won't go over it really well. But if I said I think I've got a solution and or a plan, I think I might, you know, she might be ready and say, okay, let's talk about it. I think that's the same kind of idea and posture that we have to have when we go to Tallahassee. They see us coming, we're in the minority, but if we're hollering about we're gonna fight, or maybe the doors will be closed. I'm letting you know now, I'm not going to Tallahassee to fight. I'm going to Tallahassee to win. Have conversations and come up with some programs designed around workforce reform. Thank you. And Mr. Dennis, same question. I'm particularly interested in, you know, your thoughts maybe switch that question around and how would you work across the aisle, first of all, and then what kind of legislation would you be pursuing? Thank you for that question. And let me tell you, you know, there's a time for peace and there's a time for war. There's a time that you have reconciliation and there's a time you charge the mountain. And so here in Jacksonville, I was a part of the minority party on city council with a Republican mayor. But along with my colleagues, I was able to pass more bills than any other council member. You know, one particular bill that I'm super excited about is putting parameters around JEA. Because as you know, our city went through the probably the worst scandal in our city's history. And that was the time we had to fight. And I stood there and I stood there and I fought. That was the time for war. And just think about it. I was, you know, driving down the expressway the other day. If we didn't fight to save JEA, we would be paying our electric bill to floor the power and lights today. Not only that, JEA just came out last week and said there are discontinued disconnections for people of nonpaying there, not for nonpayment. If it was floor and power and lights, a private company, they would, it's all about the profit. Because we own JEA, because it is a city-owned utility, they're able to suspend disconnections. That was a fight. That was a fight that we weren't supposed to win. But we won with a, being in the minority, working across the aisle and doing what's right for the people of Jacksonville. When I go to Tallahassee, regardless whether it's an uphill battle or not, but if it's the right thing to do for the constituents and to advance the quality of life for the constituents of Florida and Jacksonville, I'll fight. And so to close it off, the question that you asked, what priority? I'm in construction. And right now, we are having a problem with the workforce. And let me tell you, everybody that's in school, they're not going to college. And thank God that my parents instilled in me and I was able to go to Florida A&M University. But what if I was that child that didn't have the means or resources or even the smarts to go to a university, I still needed to be a productive citizen in our city. And so one of the things that I will introduce legislation to where we have two tracks in our school system, a skill track where that child can learn a skill and they can go out and be a productive citizen and an academic or a track where they go off to college. Because let me tell you, in my profession and in construction, the University of Florida, UNF, FAM, UFSU, they have a construction management. Now these are the ones in the white hats you see on the construction sites, but you still need the skilled people to actually do the work. So my answer to that question, one of the bills that I would introduce is a piece of legislation that will mandate two tracks in our educational system, our secondary education system. Well, thank you so much. That will conclude our forum tonight. I want to thank everyone who's in our studio audience, everyone who joined us on our live stream and especially the candidates. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for your involvement in the civic process. You made my job so easy tonight and I thank every single one of you. We'd also like to thank the Jacksonville Bar Association for partnering with Jacksonville today to put on this forum. Folks, the primary's coming right up, August 23. Go out and vote. I know you all will, so you're here. You're engaged already. Again, thanks so much for being here and good night. Thanks for having me.