Florida House, District 12
Represents District 12 in the Florida House of Representatives; votes on state laws and the state budget. Term: 2 years.
Partly verified. Either the November opponent could not be confirmed from available sources, or only a few positions are documented. Confirm the full candidate list on your county sample ballot; unknown positions are shown as such.
How we verified who is on the ballot
News4JAX's 2026 voter guide for HD 12 reports Republican Terrance Freeman and Democrat Benjamin Sandlin as the only candidates, with no primary because each party had one candidate . Research limitation: every WebFetch (Ballotpedia, Wikipedia, Division of Elections, county SOEs, news sites) was blocked and the search budget was capped, so this roster comes only from search-result snippets and should be re-verified against the county Supervisor of Elections sample ballot.
Debates and forums
- No debate or candidate forum has been scheduled in this race (checked Oct. 17, 2026). Checked Vote411's Florida debates-and-forums calendar, the League of Women Voters of Florida newsroom, the county Leagues, chambers of commerce, Tiger Bay clubs and local NAACP branches; every legislative forum they list was held during the primary.
Candidates
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Terrance Freeman
Republican candidate for the open HD 12 seat vacated by term-limited Rep. Wyman Duggan; Florida's Voice reported his campaign launch.
Benjamin Sandlin
Democratic candidate for HD 12; advanced to the general election without a primary.
Side-by-side on the major issues
Each row is a statement. The chips show how each candidate's stated positions or record relate to that statement. Expand a row to read the evidence and sources. "No public position found" means we could not find a statement or record on the topic, not that the candidate has none.
| Issue | Terrance Freeman Republican | Benjamin Sandlin Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans agree· stated position He lists fiscal responsibility and lowering taxes as his answer to affordability and pledges to eliminate waste. | No public position found |
| Property taxesFlorida should eliminate or sharply reduce homestead property taxes, even if local governments must cut services or find other revenue. | Leans agree· stated position Freeman says he championed Jacksonville's first property-tax cut in nearly a decade and will work to cut property taxes further. | Strongly disagrees· stated position He calls the proposed property-tax amendment the biggest tax cut for the one percent marketed as a win for working families. |
| Property insuranceThe state should intervene more directly in the property-insurance market (rate caps, expanding Citizens, stricter insurer regulation) rather than relying mainly on market-based reforms. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He would ban Wall Street investors from Florida's housing market, hold landlords accountable and repeal the state law restricting local tenant-rights ordinances. |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Strongly agrees· stated position His priorities page says he supports securing the border, enforcing existing immigration laws and giving state and local law enforcement tools to do so. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Sandlin called current state and federal immigration enforcement inhumane, said ICE should be abolished and that undocumented immigrants without a criminal record should get a path to citizenship. |
| AbortionAbortion should be legal in most cases (Florida's six-week ban should be repealed or loosened). | Leans disagree· stated position Asked whether Florida's abortion restrictions should change, Freeman said they should stay the same and the focus should be on supporting mothers and families. | Strongly agrees· stated position He says the parameters of 2024's Amendment 4 were 'spot on.' |
| GunsGun laws should be stricter (keep the red-flag law and the age-21 purchase rule; expand background checks) rather than looser (permitless or open carry, lower purchase age). | No public position found | No public position found |
| Health careGovernment should expand its role in health coverage (expand Medicaid in Florida, extend Affordable Care Act subsidies). | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He calls health care a human right and says he will sign on to any opportunity to extend coverage to more people. |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position Sandlin says he would file a bill on his first day to keep public money in public schools permanently and opposes siphoning public-school resources to private entities. |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position He says Tallahassee has been on a power trip and authority should be handed back to localities. |
| MarijuanaRecreational marijuana should be legal for adults. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Elections & votingVoting should be made easier (mail voting, drop boxes, restoring voting rights) rather than adding new restrictions. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He pledges to fight any hurdles placed on the right to vote. |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | Leans agree· stated position He cites supporting record funding for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Fire and Rescue and pledges to keep working with law enforcement. | No public position found |
| Gender identity lawsFlorida's laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors and classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity should remain in place. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position In 2024 he criticized state actions targeting transgender students as part of culture wars. |
| Energy & utilitiesGovernment should promote renewable energy and tighten oversight of utility rate increases, even at the expense of fossil-fuel production. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Sandlin called for a moratorium on data centers and said the state should be more open to green and renewable energy. |
| Trump administrationI approve of the direction of the Trump administration. | No public position found | No public position found |
| VeteransExpanding VA services and veterans' benefits should be a top priority. | No public position found | No public position found |
Where they sit on the map
Each candidate is placed by the average of their documented stances. It is a summary of the table above, not an extra judgment.
Terrance FreemanHow the axes are computed
Each axis is the average of a candidate's coded stances (+2 to −2) on a fixed set of statements, so it comes straight from the documented positions and nothing else. A candidate needs at least three documented statements on an axis to be placed.
Economic issues (toward "Smaller government (lower taxes, less spending)"): Taxes & spending (agree), Property taxes (agree), Health care (disagree), Housing affordability (disagree), Property insurance (disagree), Energy & utilities (disagree), Social Security & Medicare (disagree), Teacher and staff pay (disagree).
Social & legal issues (toward "Conservative side of the statements"): Immigration (agree), Abortion (disagree), Guns (disagree), Education & school choice (agree), Elections & voting (disagree), Crime & policing (agree), Gender identity laws (agree), Marijuana (disagree), Environment & water (disagree), Trump administration (agree), Library and classroom materials (agree), School safety approach (agree).
| Candidate | Economic issues | Social & legal issues |
|---|---|---|
| Terrance Freeman | not enough data | 1.33 (3 statements) |
| Benjamin Sandlin | -1.75 (4 statements) | -1.80 (5 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Terrance Freeman
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Benjamin Sandlin
- Unions — Sandlin says he will fight for workers' freedom to organize and end Florida's status as an anti-union state.