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Dana Cottrell, Daniel Webster battle for U.S. House Florida District 11: What you need to know

Daniel Webster is a longtime Republican face in a GOP stronghold. Dana Cottrell is an educator and Democrat running in her first race.
 
Published Nov. 4, 2018
WHO’S RUNNING
  • Dana Cottrell is a mother, retired school teacher and a first-time candidate who lives in Spring Hill. The native New Yorker currently resides in Spring Hill, has taught at Hernando County schools and used to teach the children of military personnel stationed overseas for the Department of Defense.
  • Webster has spent three decades in government. In 1996 he became the first Republican Speaker of the Florida House in 122 years when the GOP took over the majority, and he later served as Majority Leader in the Florida Senate. In 2010 he ran for Congress and won the 11th District. When that district was redrawn he filed to run in Florida’s 11th Congressional District and won in 2016.
  • Florida’s 11th Congressional District runs from Spring Hill to Ocala. It includes Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties, a part of Lake County and central Marion County.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
  • Democrats are looking to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 2010. They currently hold 195 seats, so they’ll need to gain 23 seats to regain a majority in the chamber. However, this is not considered a competitive race. The district is a Republican stronghold and Webster is a well-known GOP stalwart.
  • Cottrell supports universal healthcare; wants to preserve and protect the environment; support the ban on offshore drilling near Florida; and the bipartisan immigration reform bill that passed the U.S. Senate in 2013.
  • Webster wants to cut government costs; rebuild the America military; and protect Social Security and the Second Amendment. He also opposes oil drilling off Florida’s Gulf Coast; supports building a ball on the U.S.-Mexican border; and opposed the now-defunct Trans Pacific Partnership.
WHAT YOU NEED TO READ

Click here to read the Tampa Bay Times voter guide, which will give you a breakdown of many of the 2018 races.