Gretchen Miller Feng, 65, of West Palm Beach, is a paralegal and a regulatory consultant for  insurance companies and other causes, including childhood swimming. Jon Maples, 43, is a financial advisor for Northwestern Mutual Life and a former town council member in Lake Clarke Shores.

Even though Maples was a Democrat until 2016, and became a Republican six years ago, he has been anointed by GOP insiders and received $40,000 from the House Republican campaign fund.

That is partly why this editorial board recommends Miller Feng. We believe Palm Beach voters should choose the nominee — not Tallahassee politicians and lobbyists.

“I threw a wrench into the mix,” said Miller Feng, a Wisconsin native who moved to Florida in 1980.

In an online interview, she said Republicans pressured her to drop out; she refused. She said Rep. Meg Weinberger, R-Palm Beach Gardens — who got elected touting outsider, MAGA credentials — urged her to withdraw.

This happens all the time in politics, and it’s wrong. Miller Feng rightly exposed it.

She also has an independent streak seldom seen in Republican legislative circles. She opposes a bill (HB 133) to lower the minimum age to buy rifles and shotguns from 21 to 18, as it was before a 19-year-old murdered 17 teachers and staff members in Parkland in 2018.

It’s refreshing to see a Republican speak her own mind on guns, a signature GOP issue.

“At that age (18), and even 21, the part of the brain that makes decisions runs more on emotion than on fact,” she told us. “I would have to vote no on this bill. I believe 18 is too young.”

To be clear, we disagree strongly with her on other issues. She supports Gov. Ron DeSantis in ending childhood vaccine mandates and she enthusiastically supports the barbaric immigrant detention center Republicans labeled “Alligator Alcatraz,” which we consider utterly inhumane.

But Maples offered simplistic answers to questions. Unlike his rival, he did not appear for a 45-minute interview with the editorial board. On the gun-buying age, he wrote in a Sun Sentinel questionnaire: “I support protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding adults.”

This coastal district, stretching from Lantana north to Jupiter, is one of the wealthiest in the state (Mar-A-Lago is here) and is highly vulnerable to flooding.

On paper, it is safe Republican territory. The GOP had an 11-point advantage over Democrats in voter registration in the 2024 election (40% to 29%). But special elections can be fickle, and it all depends on turnout.

Early voting in this race is from Jan. 3 to 11 at three locations, listed on the county elections site.

In the Republican primary in House District 87, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends Gretchen Miller Feng.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

Two political newcomers, Emily Gregory and Laura Ann Levites, are vying for the Democratic nomination for Florida House District 87. The special primary election is on Jan. 13.

Gregory acted first to make sure voters have a choice in the general election. The seat became vacant in August, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Rep. Mike Caruso as Palm Beach County clerk of courts. But the governor did not call a special election to replace him, so Gregory sued to force him to act. He called an election, but his foot-dragging means the winner will miss the 2026 legislative session.

Gregory and Levites share positions on housing affordability and climate mitigation for the district’s coastal communities. But Gregory has expertise in health policy, a more substantive platform and a better blueprint for navigating a GOP-supermajority legislature.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends Emily Gregory.

District 87 hugs the coast east of I-95, from Lantana to Juno Beach. Wealthy barrier island towns such as Palm Beach and Manalapan are included, as are inland portions of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Juno Beach and Jupiter, stretching from the Beeline Highway to the south, the Turnpike to the west and Indian Creek Drive to the north.

Gregory, 40, of Jupiter, is a mother of three and small business owner. Born in Martin County, she has a degree in health and exercise science from Wake Forest and a master’s in health policy and management from Columbia University.

She worked on behavioral health issues for the National Council on Aging and the state of Georgia. She now owns Fit4Mom Palm Beach, a company serving pregnant and postpartum women. She is a military spouse.

She said housing and education are two “fundamental” issues she hears about from district residents. The third is health care. Gregory’s health care policy expertise is needed. Cuts to ACA subsidies are likely to grow the number of underinsured and uninsured Floridians, adding to those already hurt by Florida’s refusal to expand Medicaid coverage.

“There really is no good reason, outside of politics over people, to not insure one million Floridians,” Gregory said of Medicaid expansion.

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman and Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon have all endorsed Gregory, and she has raised more than $80,000, a strong start for a newcomer. Levites’ only report shows she loaned her campaign $450.

Levites, a 51-year-old Manhasset, N.Y. native, is a writer and performer who has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from NYU.  “I have not peeked under the hood of Tallahassee,” acknowledged the first-time candidate and Lake Worth Beach homeowner.

She said she decided to run because Florida is increasingly unaffordable and that friends are moving out of state. Her willingness to run is admirable, and some of her ideas are sound, but the professional entertainer needs more experience before she is ready for prime-time Florida politics.

A House seat pays $29,697 a year. The primary winner will face a Republican in March, and serve the eight months left in the term. The seat will be back on the November ballot for a full two-year term.

The deadline to request mail-in ballots for the primary is Jan. 1, and early voting runs Jan. 3 to 11.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

Democrat Rob Long is the best candidate to represent District 90 in the Florida House. But that’s not the only reason why voters should choose him in a special election that will take place this Tuesday, Dec. 9.

Republican Maria Zack emphasizes accountability, and independent Karen Yeh sounds well-intentioned, but neither is qualified. Electing either one would rob the district of level-headed representation, which is already in short supply in Tallahassee.

Long, Zack and Yeh are competing for the seat vacated by the death of Democratic state Rep. Joe Casello in July.

The coastal District 90 leans Democratic and runs east from South Military Trail through barrier island towns. A diverse area of wealthy island enclaves, it includes Delray Beach, Ocean Ridge (home of the late Rush Limbaugh’s $155 million mansion) and tiny Briny Breezes, a beachfront hamlet of 488 mobile homes.

Long, 40, a politically active Democrat and deputy vice mayor of Delray Beach, grew up in Punxsutawney, Pa. He graduated from Penn State with a civil engineering degree in 2008 and received an MBA from UF in 2012. In addition to engineering work, he runs a political marketing firm, Door 2 Door Strategies.

In nine years at Delray Beach City Hall, Long has been deeply involved in issues from taxation to urban redevelopment to race relations. He served six years on the Palm Beach Soil and Water Conservation District board and as a member of Delray’s Planning and Zoning Board.

This editorial board has strongly disagreed with Long on some issues, but he is, by far, the best candidate in this race. He would bring a valuable local government perspective to a Legislature that unfairly views cities with contempt. He has a keen understanding of the inner workings of government.

“I’ve seen what Florida’s policies are doing to families,” said Long, who believes Tallahassee’s focus on culture wars has taken resources from the bread-and-butter issues of housing, schools and safe neighborhoods.

Long forcefully challenged the state’s decision to pave over Delray Beach’s rainbow-colored intersection. He also opposes the state’s insistence on weakening local land-use controls.

With the Legislature and governor poised to jettison or revamp property taxes that are the lifeblood of local government, Long is an effective spokesman to defend cities on the need for tax revenue. He favors targeted property tax relief but says no proposals address how cities stripped of taxes can maintain fire trucks, libraries and roads.

He has a long list of endorsements, from members of Congress (Reps. Lois Frankel and Jared Moskowitz) to Associated Industries of Florida, a lobbying powerhouse that generally endorses Republicans — a clear sign that big business sees only one viable choice here.

Long has raised $93,000 in contributions, and is the only candidate who’s not primarily self-funded. His separate political committee, Long Lasting Progress, has collected $59,000. The PC’s largest donor, Florida Sunshine PC, which gave $12,500, is a political committee with ties to the sugar industry.

Zack, 62, did not return our questionnaire. She declined to participate in an editorial board interview, but did meet with us in the Republican primary.

We endorsed Zack’s opponent, Bill Reicherter, in the GOP primary, in part because Zack has spread unfounded conspiracy theories. She believes in a “global shadow government” and circulated the fiction that the CIA and an Italy defense contractor used satellites to rig the 2020 election against Donald Trump.

Zack believes strict audits and accountability are required for effective governing, but she can’t keep her own campaign finances in order. According to state records, she has raised roughly $82,000, including almost $35,000 she loaned to her campaign.

Florida Politics reported her campaign, at one point, was spending more money that it had on hand. That is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. Zack addressed the errors, but it undercuts her emphasis on financial accountability.

Yeh, 64, a Boynton Beach real estate investor, repeatedly struggled in a Sun Sentinel interview to articulate priorities beyond personal grievances with the legal system. She could not immediately recall whether she voted for Trump or Kamala Harris in 2024, something most voters would remember.

It’s also not clear whether Yeh could serve if she won. She was found guilty in circuit court in 2019 of exploitation of an elderly person after siphoning the assets of her incapacitated mother, and an organized scheme to defraud, according to state prison records. Both are felonies.

Court records show Yeh was sentenced to 366 days in jail and was on probation until 2024. She is registered to vote, but state law requires convicted felons to separately regain their civil rights to run for office, and Yeh could not say whether she has. The Florida Commission on Offender Review, the state agency that keeps those records, declined to comment.

For House District 90, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends Democrat Rob Long.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

Tuesday is Election Day for Republicans in east-central Palm Beach County.

GOP voters will choose their nominee in an upcoming special election in House District 90, which includes Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and several smaller surrounding communities.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board has endorsed Bill Reicherter, 56, a sign company owner who has been locally active in Broward and Palm Beach counties. His opponent is Maria Zack, 62, a former lobbyist and political consultant. Neither is yet registered to vote in House District 90.

Reicherter’s moderate platform includes the creation of an insurance fraud task force, property tax relief, more spending on public education and protecting local government home rule.

The Republican winner will face Democrat Rob Long and Karen Yeh, an independent, in the general election on Dec. 9. That election will be open to all voters living in the district.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. To vote, you must present a photo ID with your signature on it, such as a driver’s license.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

Tuesday, Sept. 30, is Election Day in part of Palm Beach County.

Republican voters will choose a nominee for the Florida Legislature’s House District 90, a seat that has been vacant since the death of Rep. Joe Casello in July. Most of the district is in Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.

For Republican voters, this should be an easy call.

The candidates are Bill Reicherter, 56, a sign company owner who’s making a fourth bid for public office since 2020, and Maria Zack, 62, who operated a lobbying firm in Atlanta, Ga., for many years and earlier worked for the Brevard County Legislative Delegation in Florida.

Reicherter is a mainstream conservative who opposes many of the extreme positions of his party. For example, he considers the immigrant detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz to be an unnecessary “stunt.” He also opposes the elimination of mandatory childhood vaccines in Florida.

That makes Reicherter a much better fit for this Democrat-leaning district.

Zack is a conspiracy theorist who has suggested that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump in a conspiracy that involved a military satellite in Italy that switched votes from Trump to Joe Biden.

Whoever wins the Republican primary Tuesday will face an uphill fight in a district that reliably votes Democratic. The GOP winner will face Democrat Rob Long, a Delray Beach city commissioner, and independent candidate Karen Yeh in the general election on Dec. 9.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

Two Republicans, Broward businessman Bill Reicherter and Palm Beach entrepreneur Maria Zack, face off Sept. 30 in a special GOP primary for House District 90. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends Reicherter in this off-cycle election.

Neither candidate has a built-in advantage because neither lives in the district, which is dominated by parts of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach and several smaller cities.

The winner of this primary faces Delray Beach City Commissioner Rob Long, a well-known Democrat, in a district dominated by Democratic and independent voters.

The seat is vacant following the death of Democratic Rep. Joe Casello, who died of a heart attack in July in his fourth term.

Bounded by Hypoluxo Road on the north and a canal bordering Delaire Country Club on the south, District 90 runs east from South Military Trail through barrier island towns. It’s a diverse region of wealthy island enclaves, city coastlines and a rare beachfront community of manufactured homes.

Reicherter, 56, owns a sign company and has deep roots in Broward (he graduated from Taravella High in Coral Springs). He lived in the district before moving to Lighthouse Point and said he will move to District 90 if he wins, as state law requires.

Zack, 62, who lives in Palm Beach, also plans to relocate if she wins.

Both candidates are conservative, but Reicherter is a reasonable Republican. Zack’s penchant for outlandish, far-right conspiracy theories make her too risky a choice, in our opinion.

On cutting property taxes, which will dominate the 2026 legislative session, Reicherter supports tax cuts that would leave local money for police, fire and other public services. Zack supports eliminating all property taxes, arguing that it will lower crime and teenage pregnancies, largely by bringing back stay-at-home moms.

This is Reicherter’s third run for office since 2022, when he lost a bid for the Senate District 30 seat to Tina Polsky. He lost to Casello last November, who won with 56% of the vote.

The owner of Boca SignWorks, Reicherter was born in Queens, N.Y., and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Carson-Newman University in Tennessee. He recently launched the Reicherter Foundation to support community initiatives.

Reicherter opposes “Alligator Alcatraz,” calling it “a stunt.” He favors alternatives to mass deportations for immigrants with no criminal record who are legally working to obtain citizenship.

He opposes banning mandatory childhood vaccines, citing the decades-long safety record of shots, like those for polio and measles. Zack said she “applauds” Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s opposition to vaccines.

His opinions won’t be popular with the MAGA faithful, but they are in line with President Trump’s recent statements that certain vaccines “are amazing,” and his concern over economic fallout from ICE raids.

Reicherter is self-funding his campaign with $100,000 of his money. Zack’s war chest of $6,780 to date is funded mostly by her own money as well.

Zack graduated from Florida State with a political science degree. She was a staffer for the Brevard County legislative delegation in the 1980s before moving to Georgia and founding The Strollo Group lobbying firm. She returned to Florida in 2018.

Zack’s blueprint for better government and the need for “audits, affidavits and transparency” clash with her well-known embrace of conspiracy theories.

She made national news for spreading the discredited fiction that the CIA and an Italian defense contractor used satellites to rig the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favor. She described a “global shadow government” of mystery databanks and Vatican influence.

Florida faces many serious problems. Reicherter is much better suited to find practical solutions.

The winner will serve a partial term until the 2026 general election. House members serve two-year terms at a salary of $29,697 a year.

All registered Republicans in District 90 are eligible to vote. Early voting runs from Sept. 20 through Sept. 28. The deadline to return a vote-by-mail ballot is Election Day, Sept. 30.

In the Republican primary in House District 90, the Sun Sentinel recommends Bill Reicherter.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends that voters elect Anthony Segrich, who will face Greg Richter in the city’s District 4. Segrich’s detailed questionnaire is online. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Having unseated Lake Worth Beach City Commissioner Reinaldo Diaz in the March 11 election, real estate agent Greg Richter and businessman Anthony Segrich face each other in a March 25 runoff for the District 4 seat.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends Segrich, who outpaced Richter in the first round with 39% of the vote compared to Richter’s 34%. But neither received a majority, making a runoff necessary.

Segrich has raised $40,630 to Richter’s $21,105.

But the critical number in this election is 802, the exceptionally low number of voters who cast ballots in that district election.

Each vote has extra weight

The lower the turnout, the worse it is for democracy. But conversely, the more weight each individual vote carries.

Runoff elections were abolished by the Legislature for legislative and statewide races two decades ago, partly because of their long history of extremely low turnouts — even though some of Florida’s greatest leaders won under that system.

As a result, very few Lake Worth Beach voters likely will determine an outcome that does not represent any majority of the district. We urge all District 4 voters to make their preference known at the ballot box.

The runoff is open to all voters in the district, which stretches from Lucerne Avenue and Seventh Avenue to the city’s southern boundary just past 18th Avenue South. The eastern boundary is the beach. The western boundary includes a portion of A Street and follows railroad tracks bisecting the city.

About the candidates

Richter, 69, is president of the South Palm Park Neighborhood Association and a prolific community volunteer. If elected, he intends to give up his real estate work and focus on the city full-time.

Richter has admitted to losing his temper at a commission meeting and said he apologizes when he comes across as intimidating. Temperament is a concern for any elected official dealing with hot-button issues.

Segrich, 47, is a real estate agent and founder of the water and mold remediation firm G.K.C. Tobias.

Segrich, whose campaign expenses reflect a no-nonsense approach, has said he would ask for quarterly updates from the city finance department. The attention would benefit Lake Worth, which has struggled to complete audited financials.

A short-term rental owner, Segrich hopes to repeal a little-enforced city ban on rentals.

But if Lake Worth Beach does so, state law bars the city from ever regaining such local control again. The city should proceed very carefully before repealing their ordinance.

A three-year commission term pays an annual salary of $24,500. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board’s unedited interview with Diaz, Richter and Segrich is on our YouTube channel.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

Pembroke Pines voters have lots of decisions to make in the city election on March 11.

Broward’s second-largest city will vote on a $230 million bond issue for public safety, transportation, parks and housing, and seven proposed city charter changes. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends a yes vote on most, but not all, of them.

First, the seven charter questions. We previously recommended a yes vote on the bond issue.

Question 1: Shall the charter allow for appointment or removal of an acting city manager by a three-fifths vote of the city commission instead of the current four-fifths?

We recommend a YES vote. The four-fifths threshold makes it too difficult to remove a manager for incompetence or malfeasance.

Question 2: Shall the city manager be designated as superintendent of city-owned charter schools?

We recommend NO. A future commission should have the discretion to appoint someone else.

Question 3: Shall a permanent city manager be appointed or removed by a three-fifths vote of the commission, instead of the current four-fifths?

We recommend YES, for the same reason as stated above.

Question 4: If a city manager is incapable of serving, shall the term “disability” in the charter be replaced by “incapacity,” with a definition? We recommend YES.

Question 5: Shall the minimum qualifications for city manager be changed from three years as a manager or assistant manager to include three years of “comparable” experience?

We recommend a YES vote. A three-year requirement as a manager or assistant manager is too arbitrary, in our view.

Question 6: Shall the charter eliminate a requirement for a public hearing before a city manager is removed?

We recommend a NO vote. Eliminating this requirement would mean less public transparency.

Question 7: Shall the charter require appointment of an interim commissioner when a vacancy occurs and should a special election be scheduled “as soon as practicable”?

We recommend YES. The city should have a complete commission as often as possible.

The eighth Pines question is the biggest one of them all. Voters are asked to approve a property tax increase to pay for a 30-year borrowing program of $230 million.

Dozens of projects are on the city’s ambitious to-do list, and the largest single item is a new $110 million police headquarters.

If the bond issue passes, a typical Pines single-family homeowner would pay about $100 a year more in taxes.

That works out to about $2 a week — less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The estimate assumes an interest rate on borrowing of 4.3% and a median taxable home value of $202,450, which is less than the median property value. Condo owners would pay less.

“I think people know this is necessary,” Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board.

In his successful 2024 race for mayor, Castillo surveyed city voters, asking them to rank their concerns. Traffic was by far the No. 1 worry, and many highway improvements are on the project list.

But residents’ second-highest concern was “high taxes,” which presents a challenge for the city.

On balance, however, we believe that the long-range needs of this built-out boomtown should be addressed by this bond program. A citizens’ committee, appointed by commissioners, will monitor all spending decisions.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

If your city has an election, make sure you vote.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and remember to bring a photo ID that includes your signature, such as your driver’s license.

Here are the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board’s recommendations in selected cities. All city elections are nonpartisan, which means all eligible voters can vote regardless of party.

COCONUT CREEK

The mayor and commissioners are all elected citywide.

District B: Jacqueline Railey

District C: Sandra L. “Sandy” Welch

District E: Joshua David Rydell

DEERFIELD BEACH

The mayor is elected citywide and commissioners are elected by district.

Mayor: Todd Drosky

District 3: Daniel Shanetzky

MIRAMAR

All elections are at-large or citywide.

Seat 3: Nari Tomlinson

Seat 4: Kerri-Ann Nesbeth

PEMBROKE PINES

The city has eight ballot questions. The first seven are city charter changes. The eighth is a $230 million bond issue.

Question 1: Yes.

Question 2: No.

Question 3: Yes.

Question 4: Yes.

Question 5: Yes.

Question 6: No.

Question 7: Yes.

Question 8: Yes.

BOYNTON BEACH

The mayor is elected citywide; commissioners are elected by district.

Mayor: Rebecca Shelton

District 3: Dom Vargas

LAKE WORTH BEACH

The mayor is elected citywide and commissioners are elected by district.

District 2: Carla Blockson

District 4: Reinaldo Diaz