In North Florida, the race for a state house seat has turned nasty with attack ads and accusations of discrimination.
Allison Tant, a two-term state representative and former chair of the Florida Democratic Party, is being challenged by Spencer Brass, a gay Republican.
House District 9 spans parts of three counties — Leon, Jefferson and Madison, and the constituency becomes more conservative the farther away from Tallahassee.
During a candidate forum on Oct. 11, Brass accused Tant of sending pictures of him and his husband to church pastors and commissioners in Madison County, which resulted in non-endorsements and an exclusion from an event.
“I’ve never been discriminated against in my life until I got into this race, and it came from my opponent,” said Brass, a real estate developer, who serves on the Leon County Code Enforcement Board. “She weaponized my sexuality — took that opportunity, ran with it and blatantly encouraged discrimination against me.”
Tant denied sending the pictures, but said Brass supports legislation that would push gay couples back in the closet.
In television ads, Brass has characterized the policy another way, going after Tant as an extremist who would permit sex changes for children, teach gender ideology to kindergarteners and allow men to compete in women’s sports.
“The vast majority of the LGBTQ community just wants to exist,” Brass said, when asked about the ad during the forum.
Tant said she has a daughter who is gay and would never discriminate against anyone because of their sexual orientation.
Equality Florida, the state’s largest LGBTQ rights organization, has endorsed Tant.
“The hypocrisy of an out gay candidate who talked about his husband at candidate events and then runs blatantly homophobic [and transphobic] ads in an attempt to build his own political career is too much,” said Jon Harris Maurer, Equality Florida Public Policy Director. “He should know better, and we deserve candidates with more integrity. If he’ll sell out his own community, who won’t he throw under the bus for self-interest?”
With just two weeks until the election, Tant has raised an impressive $610,000 — more than any other house candidate in the state.
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