Florida Planned Parenthood PAC endorses five in Senate races and 51 in the House

The Florida Planned Parenthood PAC announced its first round of endorsements for the state Legislature Monday, saying those candidates would fight attacks on Floridians’ reproductive freedom.

For the Florida Democratic Party, which the GOP outnumbers by more than 956,000 registered voters, support for the abortion-rights amendment could translate to overall support for its candidates. The Democrats have been focusing on the issue, calling out Republican enactment of abortion bans.

In choosing whom to endorse, the committee said it relied on demonstrated commitment to protecting reproductive health, gender-affirming care, and sex education, according to a press release.

“This is poised to be one of the most consequential elections in the history of our decades-long fight to defend reproductive freedom, and the results will determine Florida’s health care landscape for generations to come,” PAC director Laura Goodhue wrote. “We look forward to sending this powerful group of health care champions to Tallahassee and finally putting a stop to the dangerous, anti-scientific agenda that has been forced upon us.”

The five endorsed candidates for the Senate are three incumbents (Tracie Davis of Duval County, Geraldine Thompson of Orange County, and Jason Pizzo of Broward and Miami-Dade counties); Sylvain Dore, a doctor running for District 9, which includes Gainesville, Ocala, and Cedar Key; and former Florida House Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, who is running unopposed in Orange County’s District 17.

For the Florida House, the PAC is endorsing nearly all the Democratic incumbents, except those running unopposed and Michael Gottlieb of Broward County and Kimberly Daniels of Duval County. Daniels sided with Republicans during this legislative session on banning community ID cards used by immigrants and requiring the Florida Department of Health to create a pregnancy resources website that wouldn’t include information about abortion. She has also pushed to “put prayer back in school.”

The PAC only considered endorsing candidates who filled out a questionnaire, a spokesperson wrote in an email to Florida Phoenix. Broward County Rep. Daryl Campbell was omitted from the list posted online but he did receive an endorsement.

Planned Parenthood also stayed out of races with crowded Democratic primaries with the first round of endorsements.

This story was originally published by the Florida Current