ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Florida House District 30 includes much of Seminole County and part of Orange County, and right now the incumbent is running against a former representative.

The pandemic has forced candidates to get creative with campaigning.

In State House District 30, Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil has held more than two-dozen virtual town halls. 

Her challenger, Bob Cortes, who lost the seat to Goff-Marcil two years ago, is still going door-to-door but with social distancing and safety in mind.

Cortes says the pandemic shows the need for reform.

“Make sure the policies are enacted next year with a special committee to deal with pandemics to see what we did right, what we did wrong and what we need to change definitely in the future so if this ever happens again we’re prepared for it, just like in hurricanes,” he said.

Goff-Marcil said she’d tackle the state’s troublesome unemployment system.

“Over 400 cases that we’ve been working on to try to get their benefits, and even as of the last couple of weeks we’ve had some calls from people who haven’t gotten their payments since April,” she said.

Both candidates say they’re committed to blocking legislation that would hurt Central Floridians.

“I would vote no on anything that would hurt our waterways or our natural resources,” said Goff-Marcil.

In his two previous terms in Tallahassee, Cortes was part of the Republican majority, which would likely hold if he were re-elected. He says he used that to his advantage, citing a time when he worked to stop a tourism tax measure he says would’ve hurt his constituents.

“And I went to him and I said this is a bad idea — it effects my community in a negative way — and we were able to change the bill where it did not effect Central Florida as a whole,” said Cortes.

Goff-Marcil says as part of the Democratic minority, she fought against the privatization of education — something she’ll continue to fight for if re-elected.

“To fight for public education and to try to stop this funding they keep taking away from public education and putting into private school vouchers and for-profit charter schools,” said Goff-Marcil.

Cortes believes the pandemic has shown the need to offer more to teachers.

“The value of the teacher is being exacerbated right now more than ever and we need to make sure they have all their tools and they’re funded and paid well for that,” said Cortes.

With just a few thousand votes separating the two candidates two years ago, the race is expected to be close once again.​