Candidates clash on cost-of-living fixes in tight Florida House race

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(The Center Square) – The candidates competing to represent Florida’s 25th Congressional District are offering differing solutions to the same problem: the rising cost of living.

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., faces Republican Scott Singer, the former mayor of Boca Raton, on Nov. 3 in a battleground race for the newly redrawn seat.

November’s election will be the first under Florida’s new congressional map, adopted earlier this year. The map changes the boundaries of both the 23rd District, currently represented by Moskowitz, and the 25th District. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who currently represents the 25th District, is instead seeking reelection in the 20th District.

According to Inside Elections analysts Bradley Wascher and Jacob Rubashkin, the redrawn 25th District has “no true predecessor” and was "formed by leftover pieces not used to pack the three remaining Democratic-leaning districts." Forty-six percent of the new district comes from the old 23rd, 30% from the 24th and 16% from the original 25th.

The 25th District is now made up of a narrow strip along Florida’s Atlantic coast, pulling in voters from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

After redistricting, the race was moved from a “solid Democratic” rating to a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report, setting it up as one of the most closely watched House races of the midterm season.

The Downballot calculated that President Donald Trump led former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 by about 9 points within the new 25th District's boundaries.

Moskowitz is a former Florida state lawmaker and Broward County commissioner who led emergency management operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. His campaign has argued that the rising cost of living is not a partisan issue.

"There's just no partisanship on the grocery store bill," Moskowitz said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last year. "There's just prices."

He has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s messaging on rising costs, saying affordability is "not a hoax.”

"As long as people are paying double and triple for groceries and rent and health insurance and home insurance and transportation and car payments, it won't work," Moskowitz said at the hearing.

In an interview with CNN last month, Moskowitz pointed to his background running food distribution operations during the pandemic.

"Most of the people who came to those food banks drove there in their car," he said. "They had jobs. They were working people. They missed one paycheck, and they were at a food bank."

Moskowitz's campaign has focused on property insurance, a cost that weighs particularly heavily on South Florida. He has touted his work drafting legislation to lower homeowners’ premiums.

"It's not just gas," Moskowitz said in a campaign ad. "Groceries, bills, housing. For South Florida families, it's all the same meter, and it never stops."

His campaign website also credits him with pushing for more than 1,000 new affordable housing units during his time on the Broward County Commission.

Singer, who served eight years as mayor of Boca Raton, is using his record as the city’s top official to explain how he would bring down costs for South Floridians.

"Everyone promises to lower your cost of living. Almost nobody explains how," Singer wrote in a social media post.

Singer said he would lower costs as a congressman the same way he did as Boca Raton’s mayor: through early infrastructure investment and by attracting higher-paying jobs.

He has courted residents and businesses of expensive cities like New York City, citing Florida’s lack of an income tax, lighter regulation and Boca Raton’s property tax rate. While mayor, Singer pitched that message directly to New Yorkers on a billboard in Times Square.

"We've been attracting great companies, corporate headquarters, and tech talent and finance talent for decades," Singer said in a Newsmax interview.

Singer has built his campaign around support for the president, who endorsed him on social media earlier this month.

“Scott Singer has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from Florida’s 25th Congressional District,” Trump wrote on Sept. 1.

Singer has repeatedly touted the administration’s efforts to cut taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year. He praised Trump for delivering "the largest tax cut in American history" and pledged to support the president’s policy priorities if elected.

That law is also his sharpest line of attack on Moskowitz.

"Jared Moskowitz voted lockstep with all Democrats against that,” Singer said in an interview with CBS News Miami. “So for everyone earning a tip or earning overtime or seniors on fixed incomes, he voted to raise those taxes.”

In his latest filings to the Federal Election Commission, Moskowitz reported raising just under $3 million, while Singer reported raising $2.2 million.

With all 435 seats up for election in November, the race for Florida’s 25th District will help determine which party controls the House in the 120th Congress. Republicans currently hold a 5-seat advantage over Democrats, with two seats vacant.

Polls are open in Florida from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time on Election Day.