Miami Election: Spalding, Wasserman Schultz Run In District 23

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL — In the 2020 election, Miami-Dade County voters will choose the winner of the U.S. House of Representatives District 23 congressional race. Republican Carla Spalding and incumbent Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz are vying for the role.

How to vote

As the Nov. 3 election approaches, Miami-Dade County voters can submit their ballots at early voting locations and at drop-off boxes through Sunday. They can also vote at their local voting precinct on Election Day.

If voting in person, either early or on Nov. 3, voters must bring a current and valid ID with their name, photo and signature. Find a full list of acceptable IDs here.

Vote-by-mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. Election Day. Though it’s too late to send them using the U.S. Postal Service, they can be dropped off at any early voting location or at the Supervisor of Elections office on Tuesday. Find a list of early voting locations here. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot has passed.

If you choose to vote in person on Nov. 3, you can look up your voting precinct online here. For your vote to count, you must vote in the precinct in which you reside. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Meet the candidates

Miami Patch recently sent out questionnaires to learn more about who these candidates are and where they stand on local issues. Though neither candidate submitted their responses, we’ve compiled some information about them.

According to her campaign website, Republican Carla Spalding said she immigrated to the United States from Jamaica. After serving in the U.S. Navy, she went on to earn a master’s degree. She became a registered nurse, college professor and a small business owner.

She wrote, “I served in the military to protect our great citizens, then I served as a VA and registered nurse to protect our sick. I’m now running to ‘cure’ a very ‘sick’ Congress, so I can continue to protect you from all enemies…foreign, domestic and pandemic.”

Spalding said she’ll protect the health of citizens; the “Constitution, right and freedoms;” jobs and the economy; the safety of first responders; and school choice.

On her website, she called her opponent “a career politician who has virtually no experience in issues that we all face every day in our jobs, business and communities. She is best known as the former chair of the Democratic National Committee who rigged the primary against Bernie Sanders to favor Hillary Clinton—she has resigned in disgrace from the DNC.”

Learn more about Spalding at her campaign website.

According to her U.S. House of Representatives website, Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz has represented District 23 in U.S. Congress since 2005. Previously, she served in the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate.

“As Florida’s first Jewish Congresswoman, she has earned the respect of her colleagues for working tirelessly on behalf of seniors, children, and families for nearly three decades,” her U.S. House bio reads.

It also said she’s “known for vigorously defending her progressive values, (and) has also demonstrated her ability to pass meaningful legislation in a bipartisan fashion.”

Her campaign website said, “Wasserman Schultz will work with everyone and anyone to ensure that our children are protected, that women have access to quality health care and the tools to be their own best health care advocates, and that senior citizens have the safety net they have paid into and are protected from identify thieves.”

The legislation she has introduced that is now law include the EARLY Act, which provides funding to the Centers for Disease Control for educational outreach that young women do get breast cancer. She was also behind the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, a state grant program to encourage pool and spa safety.

She also partnered with then Senator Joe Biden to pass the PROTECT Our Children Act, which established funding and a federal plan for prosecuting criminals that exploit children online. Her HERO Act of 2015 further bolstered these efforts. Other legislation has focused on victims of human trafficking and women who have a child conceived by rape, among other issues.

Learn more about Wasserman Schultz at her campaign website.